Recent campaign filings by the large group running for governor this year indicate the campaign “will be record-breaking,” one election official said. (Dana DiFilippo | New Jersey Monitor)
The candidates seeking to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy have pulled in a staggering $15.6 million in campaign cash with about five months still to go until the primary, state election officials said this week.
The filings released by the Election Law Enforcement Commission indicate the gubernatorial race — a packed campaign with nine Republicans and six Democrats — “will be record-breaking,” Joe Donohue, the agency’s deputy director, said in a statement. Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics, agreed.
“This primary is going to see an unbelievable amount of spending,” Rasmussen said.
Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, a Democrat, leads the pack of 15 candidates with a reported $3.2 million raised. He’s spent $640,720, his campaign’s filings show. Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a former assemblyman who challenged Murphy in 2021, trails behind Fulop. He reported raising $2.9 million and spending $1.4 million.
Rasmussen attributes their higher fundraising totals in part to the length of time they’ve been in the race. Fulop announced his candidacy in April 2023, and Ciattarelli formally launched his campaign one year later.
“I think Fulop has absolutely used his time wisely. He has absolutely used it to the full advantage, but I don’t think that means he’s got some prohibitive head start. I think it means that other candidates have catching up to do,” Rasmussen said.
Former state Sen. Steve Sweeney isn’t far behind Ciattarelli. Sweeney, a Democrat who lost his Senate seat in 2021 to Republican and fellow gubernatorial hopeful Ed Durr, reported raising $2.4 million and spending nearly $400,000. State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Union) has raised $1.5 million and has spent $1.1 million.
Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill, Democrats who both jumped into the race in November, have raised $1.7 million and $1.4 million, respectively. Rasmussen noted their late entries in the race, and said their time in Congress has given them the chops to fundraise quickly.
“I don’t think that fundraising is going to be an issue for them,” he said. “It’s just going to take a few weeks longer than others.”
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democrat, reported raising $1.2 million, and Republican New Jersey 101.5 host Bill Spadea has raised $1.1 million.
Near the bottom of the pack is Sean Spiller, a former Montclair mayor and head of the state teacher’s union, who has raised just $182,884. But the anemic total for his campaign doesn’t mean he won’t have campaign cash behind him. Working New Jersey, an independent spending group linked to Spiller’s union, plans to spend big to back his candidacy. It told election law officials it expects to spend $35 million on the race.
Several Republicans, including Durr, have not reported raising any money. Durr famously toppled Sweeney, who had been in the Senate for decades and was Senate president when he lost reelection, after raising just a few thousand dollars.
Rasmussen said running for governor on that kind of shoestring budget will be tough.
“Money is never the only determining factor, and I think somebody like Ed Durr has shown that. But what an analyst wants to see is signs of life, and money is one of those signs,” he said.
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