Special interest groups spent $110,560,405 on statehouse lobbying in 2025, the first time spending has crossed the $110 million threshold, according to New Jersey election officials.
The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission issued a report Monday morning compiling spending and lobbying efforts from the state’s top special interest groups.
The New Jersey Realtors spent $1.4 million on lobbying in 2025, more than any other group. About $450,000 of the spending was on direct lobbying of state officials; they spent more than $975,000 to build institutional support through an “issues mobilization fund.” $1.1 million of the group’s total spending was for communications.
Public Service Enterprise Group, the parent of utility giant PSE&G, spent more than $850,000 on lobbying last year, putting the company third.
Beyond spending, formal “lobbying contacts” over specific bills can indicate priorities, and the top bills, many of which never moved on from committee, had healthcare or business impacts. But lobbyists reached out about the state budget more than any other bill, a total of 642 times. The healthcare and business sectors accounted for more than a third of lobbying spending last year.
The number of registered lobbyists grew from 908 to 947 in 2025, ELEC reported.
The New Jersey Education Association, a top spender in prior years, expended a little more than $290,000 on lobbying in 2025, mostly in the form of the salaries of its lobbyists. Almost $100 million of the $110 million in total 2025 spending went toward paying lobbyist salaries, ELEC reported.
The $110 million mark is not the record adjusted for inflation — that came in 2020, when COVID-related lobbying spiked spending to $133 million in 2025 dollars.