Hirsh Singh’s absurd presidential campaign is out of money; even Daddy said no this time

Veruca Salt’s father isn’t funding his son’s White House bid this year, so Hirsh Singh’s farcical campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has probably come to an end – not that it was ever relevant in the first place.

Singh, the 38-year-old manchild who has already lost six bids for office over the last six years, raised just $36,062 since his stunning July 27 announcement that he was running for president.   He’s burned through almost all of that and reported cash-on-hand of $188.

To put his warchest into perspective, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) has more than 84,254 times as much money in the bank for a congressional race as Singh does as a candidate for the presidency.

Even the fundraising number is misleading: two-thirds of the money raised ($24,212) is self-funded; he’s only raised $9,900 from other donors – not enough to get him consideration for most municipal offices.

“This is presidential taste on a condo association budget,” said Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University.  “It’s a cautionary tale — start where you can compete and rise from there.”

In his presidential campaign announcement, Singh said he was the only true-blooded candidate since all the other contenders had been vaccinated.

On social media, he spoke optimistically about his chances to qualify for the presidential debate stage – he didn’t make it – and has attacked rivals Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis.

His father, defense contractor Tribhuvan Singh, spent nearly $1 million to help his son run for governor in the 2017 GOP primary; he took advantage of a loophole in New Jersey campaign finance law that eliminated limits because the two were living in the same house.   He won 9.8% of the vote.

The elder Singh has helped bankroll his son’s other runs for office.

He briefly sought the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in 2018 before switching to the congressional race in New Jersey’s 2nd district.  Twelve-term Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-Ventnor) was retiring, and the GOP was searching for a challenger against the Democratic frontrunner, State Sen. Jeff Van Drew.

While Singh secured several organization lines, he lost the Republican primary to former Atlantic County Freeholder Seth Grossman by 2,232 votes, 39%-30.5%, in a four-candidate race.

He tried to take on U.S. Senator Cory Booker in 2020  but lost the Republican primary by 8,727 votes against former U.S. Food and Drug Administration executive Rik Mehta, 38%-36%.   His campaign was propelled by organizational lines in Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, and Ocean, where his 34,217-vote margin made him in contention to win the nomination.  He lost the other 17 counties.

In 2021, Singh’s scorched-earth campaign for the GOP gubernatorial primary Jack Ciattarelli didn’t work.  He finished third with just 21.5% of the vote and wound up ceding the pro-Donald Trump mantle to a shadowy ex-pastor, Phil Rizzo.  Singh fought to get into debates and then inexplicably ducked one of them.

A Republican officeholder told the New Jersey Globe after the 2021 primary– only half-kidding – that the Peter Pan-like character might be headed to Iowa and New Hampshire since he has an unrealistic view of his limitations.

His campaign finance reports don’t show any evidence of campaign swings through Iowa and New Hampshire, at least not through the end of September.

In the most bizarre race of all, Singh mounted a fight for a condo board seat in Atlantic City last year and lost badly.