Five gubernatorial candidates have received more public matching funds from the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), with one of them, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, hitting overall the matching funds cap.
Fulop received $80,323 from ELEC today, bringing him to the maximum of $5.5 million in public money for his gubernatorial campaign. The mayor announced in October 2023 that he had raised enough money to qualify for the full match, though reporting in Politico NJ this morning shows that Fulop’s heavy spending rate risks overrunning another ELEC requirement for public funds: the $8.7 million cap on overall primary spending. (Fulop has already spent around $8 million and counting on TV and digital ads.)
Former State Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford) received the largest share of ELEC’s $689,209 disbursement today, getting $256,430 and bringing his total public financing up to $4,559,497, or 83% of the cap.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka received $184,065, bringing him to $3,301,214 (60% of the cap); State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) received $59,880, bringing him to $3,147,701 (57% of the cap); and former radio host Bill Spadea received $108,511, bringing him to $2,497,990 (45% of the cap).
Former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli (R-Somerville) and Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) and Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) had already reached the full $5.5 million cap in prior months. And three other candidates who will appear on primary ballots – New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller, a Democrat, and former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac and contractor Justin Barbera, both Republicans – did not raise enough to qualify for matching funds.
ELEC has now distributed a total of $35.5 million to eight candidates as part of what’s likely to be the most expensive gubernatorial primary season in state history.
Under New Jersey’s public financing program, first enacted during the state’s 1977 elections, candidates for governor are eligible to receive $2 for every $1 they raise, as long as they both meet a minimum threshold of $580,000 raised and don’t go over a spending cap of $ 8,700,000. (More public funds will be made available to the two major-party candidates who make it to the general election, with higher spending caps in place as well.
