Legislative candidate fundraising by the numbers

Fifty-five Candidates for the New Jersey State Senate have nearly $10.9 million cash-on-hand, with roughly two-thirds of the total warchest sitting the warchests of ten people.

And to put that amount into perspective, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff), the Human Fundraising Machine and a potential candidate for governor in 2025, has more than $14.2 million in his congressional camapign warchest, which is more than $3.25 million more than the combined campaign accounts of 55 Senate candidates from both parties across the state.

Senate President Nicholas Scutari has $2,047,100 banked for his own re-election campaign in the safe-Democratic 22nd district, not including his own Senate Democratic leadership PAC.   His Republican opponent, William Michelson, has $2,440 in his campaign account, giving Scutari an 839-1 cash advantage.

Senate Appropriation Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo reported $1,235,304 cash-on-hand, the second-largest warchest in the state.  He’s followed by Shirley Turner (D-Lawrence), an eight-term incumbent who has $846,978 banked, and Richard Codey (D-Roseland), a former governor who is seeking his fourteenth term in the State Senate.  Codey is the favorite in a redistricting-created incumbent vs. incumbent primary next month against Nia Gill (D-Montclair), a seven-term senator with just $25,724 available to her.

The five-largest Senate warchest in the state belongs to Assemblyman Raj Mukheri (D-Jersey City), who is seeking an open Assembly seat in Hudson County.  He has $608,602 cash-on-hand, with no primary opposition and a safe general election seat.

Assembly candidates statewide have a combined $7.15 million cash-on-hand.

With $610,847 banked, Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton), an eight-term incumbent and the president of the Mercer County Building and Construction Trades Council, has the most money of the 103 candidates for State Assembly who filed with the Election Law Enforcement Commission

Following DeAngelo are: Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin with $596,710), Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) with  $569,772,  John McKeon (D-West Orange) with $393,917, and Joseph Egan (D-New Brunswick) with $367,772.

Sitting at the bottom of the list is Assembly Speaker Pro-Tempore Benjie Wimberly, whose most recent campaign finance report shows him with a $2,076 debt.   Joseph Collins, the nephew of former Assembly Speaker Jack Collins, has just $119 in the bank; he is running for Assembly in the 3rd district with Beth Sawyer in an off-the-line bid.

In some districts, legislative candidates maintain joint accounts with the following cash-on-hand, from largest to smallest:

* District 2 Republicans (Vince Polistina, Don Guardian and Claire Swift: COH $140,159
* District 20 Democrats (Joe Cryan, Annette Quijano and Reginald Atkins: COH $60,183
* District 11 Democrats (Vin Gopal, Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul: COH $56,690
* District 19 Democrats (Joe Vitale, Craig Coughlin and Yvonne Lopez: COH $49,311
* District 32 Democrats (Raj Mukherjee, Jessica Ramirez and John Allen: COH $39,142
* District 11 Republicans (Steve Dnistiran, Marilyn Piperno and Kim Eulner: COH $34,491
* District 26 Republicans (Joe Pennachio, Jay Webber and Brian Bergen): COH $31,696
* District 3 Republicans (Ed Durr, Bethanne McCarthy Patrick): COH $28,110
* District 1 Republicans (Erik Simonsen and Antwan McClellan: COH $23,201
* District 3 Democrats (John Burzichelli, Heather Simmons and Dave Bailey): $21,100
* Distict 36 Democrats (Paul Sarlo, Gary Schaer and Clinton Calabrese: COH $15,900
* District 16 Democrast (Andrew Zwicker, Roy Freiman and Mitchelle Drulis: COH $13,858
* District 4 Republicans (Nick DeSilvio, Michael Clarke and Denise Gonzalez): COH $13,751
* District 23 Republicans (Doug Steinhardt, John DiMaio and Erik Peterson): COH $13,275
* District 10 Republicans (James Holzapfel and Greg McGuckin: COH $9,866
* District 38 Democrats (Joe Lagana, Lisa Swain and Chris Tully): COH $9,308
* District 25 Democrats (Christine Clarke, Diane Salvatore and Jonathan Torres): COH $6,830
* District 21 Republicans (Jon Bramnick, Nancy Munoz and Michelle Matsikoudis): COH $1,381
* District 4 Democrats (Paul Moriarty, Dan Hutchison and Cody Miller): COH $250