Matching funds for governor’s race won’t be available until 2025

Matching funds for the next gubernatorial campaign won’t be dispersed until early 2025, no matter how early candidates qualify.

The New Jersey Election Law  Enforcement Commission, which administers the state’s public financing program, won’t establish thresholds to qualify, contribution limits, and caps on campaign spending until December 15, 2024, according to Joe Donohue, the agency’s deputy executive director.

Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, says ELEC might consider pushing up the date of the big reveal.

“This key piece of information would allow all candidates to budget accordingly,” said Rasmussen.  “The new ELEC commissioners have a lot on their plates, but this is something they should get to sooner than later.”

The lone announced candidate, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, has already raised $2.2 million in support of his bid for the Democratic nomination.  That would give Fulop a match of roughly $4.2 million under a public financing system that matches $2 for every $1 raised, based on the 2021 limits.

While Fulop’s cash-on-hand will be around $2.15 million, his actual number will be closer to $6.4 million since public financing can be considered an accounts receivable number.

But his early fundraising success won’t get him the cash until at least January 7, 2025, partly because ELEC doesn’t have the money yet.

“There currently is nothing budgeted for the program,” said Donohue.

To fund the program, the legislature must include gubernatorial public financing in next year’s state budget.

In 2021, the threshold to qualify for matching funds was $490,000 with a contribution limit of $4,900;  the first $156,000 isn’t matched.  Candidates who accepted public financing agreed to a $7.3 million expenditure limit.

The newly-constituted ELEC commissioners can change their schedule.  In the last election, the panel announced its recommendations in June 2020.  But only the legislature can change the timeline.

In that election, Republican Jack Ciattarelli launched his campaign in January 2020.  He raised nearly $1.1 million that year, qualifying him for matching funds and receiving.  He had unofficially qualified for the match by the end of September after bringing in almost $820,000 in the first nine months of his candidacy.

While early announcements mean expenditures will count under the spending cap, it also gives candidates an opportunity to get fundraising out of the way and move on to securing endorsements – and votes.

“Steve Fulop is making smart use of his time, which is the most limited of all campaign resources.  For some candidates, his early head start may begin to look daunting,” Rasmussen said.  But for proven fundraisers like Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill, it will not take long at all for them to make up that ground.”

Gottheimer and Sherrill are expected to seek re-election to the House in 2024 and are unlikely to enter the race until after that election.  Catching up to Fulop doesn’t seem to bother them.

“Given his proven fundraising record, if Congressman Gottheimer were to decide to run for Governor, I have no doubt that he will be able to quickly raise more than enough to qualify for matching funds,” said Gottheimer’s campaign advisor, Michael Soliman.

Sherrill’s chief of staff, Alex Ball, isn’t worried about fundraising.

“Mikie has raised millions securing a competitive seat in Congress and she received more votes than any Democrat in the delegation last cycle,” Ball said.  “Whatever Mikie decides to do, history shows she’s up to the challenge.”