In the crowded and well-funded Democratic primary for New Jersey’s competitive 7th congressional district, criminal justice professor Beth Adubato and former Summit Councilman Greg Vartan are both raising relatively little money, per 3rd quarter reports filed today.
A third contender, Vale Mendoza, has not yet submitted her Q3 report and said she will likely be at least a day late in doing so.
Adubato, who officially got into the race in August, reported raising $67,216 – the large majority of which, almost $50,000, was self-funded, with only around $17,000 coming from donors. She ended the quarter with $58,284 on-hand.
Vartan, meanwhile, raised $30,531 and ended the quarter with $64,011; in the nearly eight months since Vartan entered the race in February, he’s raised a total of $187,552. Vartan told the New Jersey Globe that his focus has been on ongoing state-level elections – New Jersey will elect a new governor in just three weeks – and not on congressional fundraising.
“Raising money is important but there’s nothing more important than electing Mikie Sherrill and Democrats up and down the ballot in less than three weeks,” Vartan said. “I have been hyper focused on talking to voters about this election and not spending all day calling donors.”
The Democratic field’s top fundraisers so far are former Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett, who’s raised over $1.3 million in total; businessman Brian Varela, who’s raised $1 million with the help of $600,000 in self-funding; and physician Tina Shah, who raised $604,000 after just one quarter in the race. Former Small Business Administration official Michael Roth has raised $450,000, and climate scientist Megan O’Rourke, who like Shah entered the race during the 3rd quarter, has raised $247,000.
The district’s Republican incumbent, Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), has nearly $2 million on-hand to defend himself in what could become a highly competitive and expensive election next year.
