The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission announced on Tuesday that it disbursed more than $2.6 million in the latest round of public matching funds to the two major nominees for governor.
Election officials gave Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) $1,575,395 and Republican former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli $1,072,511 in the latest round. As expected for this stage of the election, the pair is approaching the $12.5 million cap. Sherrill has received $12,108,571, about 97% of the cap, while Ciattarelli has received $10,703,058, about 86% of the cap.
Ciattarelli announced last month that he’d raised enough to qualify for the full match — at this point, it’s simply up to the campaigns to determine when the money is disbursed and how it is used.
General election candidates may receive up to $12.5 million in public funds in a $2-for-$1 match system. Participation in the program comes with an $18.5 million spending cap, though super PACs and independent expenditures can continue spending to support their favored candidate.
Sherrill and Ciattarelli were the only candidates to qualify. A third-party candidate would have had to raise $580,000 by Sept. 2 to qualify.
ELEC distributed over $37.5 million in matching funds in the primary election, a record-setting sum. ELEC has so far distributed $22,811,628 in the general election — that number will be $25 million when it’s all said and done.
More than 275,000 New Jerseyans have voted by mail, according to VoteHub.
