Two PACs have started spending on the Democratic primary for Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill’s seat, the opening salvo in what’s likely to be an expensive and nationally watched election.
One of the beneficiaries is Lieutenant Gov. Tahesha Way, whom the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association PAC is promoting as someone who will “[stand] up to Trump for New Jersey” in a series of mailers. FEC filings indicate that the DLGA PAC has spent $16,858 on the mailers thus far, but that could simply represent the first wave of a broader investment.
The other is former Rep. Tom Malinowski, who has the support of the 218 Project, a new super PAC formed earlier this year by Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky to boost Malinowski’s campaign.
The 218 Project is airing a 30-second digital ad that highlights Malinowski’s efforts to impeach Trump in 2019 and his endorsement from Senator Andy Kim, both messages that Malinowski is using in his own advertising as well. The 218 Project’s investment, first caught by Bloomberg’s Greg Giroux, currently stands at $98,500.
The 12 candidates running in the special election for the 11th congressional district have all been busy fundraising for at least a month, and many of them have said that they raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in the early days or weeks of their campaigns. Even without any outside involvement, the February 5 primary is sure to see quite a lot of spending on TV ads, mailers, and the like.
But if outside groups start getting more heavily involved, that could add an entirely new dimension to the race, since super PACs face far fewer restrictions on their raising and spending than candidates, and their motives and backers are often harder to track.
Malinowski has widespread political connections from his prior two terms in Congress, while Way entered the race with day-one endorsements from the DLGA, the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, and the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, but they’re not the only 11th district candidates with prominent supporters who might consider spending on their behalf.
Analilia Mejia, who was the political director for Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign, has Sanders’s endorsement and is closely tied to his national progressive orbit; Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill (D-Montclair) has gotten widespread support from top state Democrats (among them Gov. Phil Murphy) and many influential labor unions; and former Army paratrooper Zach Beecher was recently endorsed by With Honor Fund, a veterans-focused group that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on several prior New Jersey House races.
