At the end of September, incumbents maintained significant money advantages they’d fostered throughout the cycle in New Jersey’s most competitive House districts.
According to the most recent Federal Election Commission reports, sitting House members in the five most widely watched contests raised approximately $30.3 million compared to their opponents’ $8.3 million, and they spent roughly $18.4 million compared to the challengers’ $6.1 million.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer alone owns $14 million of the incumbents’ $24.2 million war chest as of September 30, while the challengers’ war chests reached $2.3 million as of election day on November 8.
According to Micah Rasmussen, director of Rider University’s Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics, incumbents succeed in most elections in which they compete. “I assume that clever donor money will attempt to make a wise investment? They prefer not to wager on losers. They want to place winning wagers. To advance an agenda, they want to wager on candidates who will hold office and stick around beyond the election.
The GOP is targeting congressional districts like New Jersey’s 7th in its quest to regain control of Congress, hoping that President Joe Biden’s poor support ratings, persistent inflation, and voters’ pessimistic views of the country’s future will aid the party.
