Fulop super PAC has $6.5 million in the bank

A super PAC allied with Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop has more than $6.5 million cash-on-hand, a pot of money that could help combat the vast warchest of another potential 2025 Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff), the Human Fundraising Machine.

Coalition for Progress raised roughly $400,000 during the last three months, according to Drew Nussbaum, the PAC chairman.

The super PAC also announced that four nationally prominent Democratic consulting firms have signed on help their efforts to spend some of the money on behalf of legislative and local candidates running in 2023 and to flip New Jersey’s 7th district to the Democrats next year.

“We’re excited to see this kind of continued fundraising success and also to announce new additions to our consulting team that each have tremendous records of helping elect Democrats around the country,” said Nussbaum.   “These partners will play a significant role in our advocacy efforts in upcoming elections.”

Among them is Red Horse Strategies, which helped direct Eric Adams’ campaign for mayor of New York City in 2021 and independent expenditures for Democratic candidates in more than 30 states, and Impact Research, the polling firm led by John Anzalone; Anzalone polled for Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and has extensive experience in New Jersey races.

Coalition for Progress’ consultant roster will also include Siegel Strategies, a media firm, and Precision Strategies, a digital media company that worked for Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign and statewide and congressional candidates across the U.S.

Fulop announced his candidacy for governor in April but has yet to reveal how much he raised over the last three months.  The deadline to file second quarter fundraising reports is in ten days.

“I’m pretty sure we are going to crush it,’ Fulop said on Twitter Sunday.

“The next two years are going to be critical not just for New Jersey but for the entire country, and Coalition for Progress looks forward to supporting Democratic candidates who share our mission of moving our communities forward and providing more opportunities for economic mobility,” Nussbaum said.

The Fulop-allied super PAC spent roughly $100,000 running TV and digital ads to support Craig Guy, the landslide winner in the June Democratic primary for Hudson County Executive.

As the lone announced candidate, Fulop is the only gubernatorial aspirant permitted to raise money for the 2025 election  — but his expenditures will count against a cap to be established by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Gottheimer, also considered a likely candidate to replace term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, had $14.2 million banked for his re-election bid in New Jersey’s 5th district as of March 31.  Updated fundraising numbers for Gottheimer are due this month.

In April, Fulop’s gubernatorial campaign announced that several top Democratic media consultants, pollsters, researchers and digital strategists had joined his team, including Mark Putnam as his media consultant, Fred Yang as his pollster, Ian Mandel as a research consultant, Megan Clasen as a digital consultant, and Phil Swibinski of Vision Media Marketing.

Fulop finished his tenth year as mayor on July  1, the longest tenure of any Jersey City mayor since Frank Hague.

Since joining the governor’s race, Fulop has won endorsements from nine mayors – three from the congressional district of another prospective candidate, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) —  two county chairmen, the Amalgamated Transit Union International, and four Teamsters Union locals.