Lagana has $222k cash-on-hand going into special election

State Sen. Joseph Lagana (D-Paramus) has raised $374,400 in his bid to hold the 38th district State Senate seat in the Nov. 6 special election, and has $221,785 cash-on-hand, according to reports filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Lagana also transferred $75,000 to a joint campaign committee with Assemblywoman Lisa Swain and Assemblyman Christopher Tully.  That account raised $137,950 and has $95,799 remaining.

Lagana won a special election convention in April to replace Bob Gordon, who resigned to become a commissioner of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

He is heavily favored to win the special election against Republican Daisy Berger Ortiz for the remaining 38 months of Gordon’s term.

Berger has not filed a report with ELEC.

Swain and Tully won special election conventions to replace Lagana and Tim Eustace, who resigned in March to become deputy executive director of the North Jersey District Water Commission.  They are seeking the remaining fourteen months of those terms on November 6.

Swain, a former Fair Lawn mayor, has raised $14,550  and all of it remains banked.  Tully, a former Bergenfield council president who served on Rep. Josh Gottheimer’s staff, raised $10,325 and has $3,374 cash-on-hand.