A month after putting down a $1.5 million investment into New Jersey to boost Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair)’s gubernatorial campaign, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is going double-or-nothing.
With seven weeks left to go before Election Day, the DNC announced this morning that it will send an additional $1.5 million to the New Jersey Democratic Party’s coordinated campaign to hire new on-the-ground staff, make more voter contacts, and experiment with new tactics and tools to sway voters in the races for governor, State Assembly, and local office. According to the DNC, it’s the largest investment the national party has ever made in an off-year New Jersey election.
“With stakes this high for New Jerseyans, the DNC is all in to support Democrats up and down the ballot who have a proven record of delivering results for New Jersey,” DNC Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement.
DNC money will also be used to expand outreach in New Jersey’s Black, Hispanic, and Asian American communities, which swung towards Republicans last year and which Martin told the New Jersey Globe his party is committed to winning back.
“One of the things we can’t do any longer is just assume that communities of color are automatically going to support Democratic candidates, meaning that we need to engage them early in conversation around their hopes and dreams for their communities,” Martin told the New Jersey Globe in an interview. “And that’s what we’ve been working with our county parties in New Jersey and the state party on doing throughout the summer and fall.”
The $3 million DNC investment is far from the only national Democratic money coming to Sherrill’s aid; a super PAC tied to the Democratic Governors Association has plans to spend upwards of $20 million on TV, streaming, and digital ads leading up to the general election, with its first ad hitting the airwaves earlier this month.
Republicans have been much less forthcoming with their plans to aid their nominee, former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli (R-Somerville). A Republican Governors Association-affiliated super PAC has started spending money to boost Ciattarelli, but its investment so far has been modest and it’s not clear how much larger it will grow. The Republican National Committee has not publicly announced any intention to spend directly in New Jersey at all.
The lack of massive Republican spending thus far hearkens back to the 2021 election, when national Republicans largely left Ciattarelli to fend for himself even as he came within striking distance of unseating Gov. Phil Murphy. Then again, Republicans would argue that the tens of millions of dollars Democrats are spending this year to support Sherrill, after mostly ignoring New Jersey’s 2021 race, is a sign that they’re nervous about losing a normally blue-leaning state.
Martin noted a key dynamic that impacts both parties’ thinking: because New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states holding major statewide elections this year, eyes around the country will be on the Sherrill-Ciattarelli showdown.
“This is the only game in town, so to speak. So it draws a lot of attention from national figures in both parties,” Martin said. “I would expect that Donald Trump and the Republican heavyweights would be involved in New Jersey and Virginia, much like folks on our side will be as well. These races carry a much greater import to the national party than just what it means for New Jersey and Virginia.”
Will Trump himself ultimately come into New Jersey to give Ciattarelli, who earned Trump’s endorsement during a bitter primary contest, the biggest publicity boost he can? It’s possible, but Martin said he didn’t think Ciattarelli would stand to benefit.
“I’m not sure what Trump could sell New Jerseyans at this point that would help Jack Ciattarelli,” he said.
