Ciattarelli raises a colossal $2.9 million and qualifies for a full match

Jack Ciattarelli has raised an immense $2.935 million for his campaign for the Republican nomination for governor, qualifying for the maximum amount of matching funds under the state’s gubernatorial public financing program after raising his last $800,000 during the fourth quarter of 2024.

That means Ciattarelli has basically completed his task of raising hard money for his campaign and may now move on to phase two in his bid to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy: getting votes.

Ciattarelli will receive $5.5 million from the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission —  New Jersey has a $2-for-every-$1 system – and in exchange, agrees to an $8.7 million spending cap.

This puts Ciattarelli four months ahead of where he was in the 2021 gubernatorial primary when he didn’t qualify for the full match until May.   He is now the first Republican and second candidate to hit their fundraising ceiling: Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop hit his target in April 2023.

“We began this campaign less than nine months ago with a number of ambitious goals, one of which was to raise every allowable dollar for our primary campaign before the first submission for matching funds in January 2025,” said Ciattarelli. “I am proud to say that thanks to an outpouring of support from residents in all 21 counties, including over $200,000 in grassroots donations of $200 or less, we have successfully achieved that goal. We are now in the strongest possible position to get our message out and win in November.”

A former assemblyman, Ciattarelli came within three percentage points of beating Murphy in 2021.  He faces NJ 101.5 radio host Bill Spadea, State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield), and former State Sen. Ed Durr (R-Logan) in the June 10 Republican primary.

On the Democratic side, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) raised $1.66 million during the first six weeks of his gubernatorial campaign.   Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has raised $1.146 million for his gubernatorial bid  Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) raised $600,000 in her first 24 hours as a candidate; she has not yet announced her year-end fundraising numbers.