Credit: (Bonnie Cash/Pool Photo via AP)

Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez spent more than $2.6 million on legal fees last year, almost all of that after his indictment on federal corruption charges. He wound up refunding more contributions than he received in the last quarter of 2023, newly released campaign filings show.  

Menendez, who has yet to announce whether he will seek reelection, still had more than twice as much money in the bank at the end of last year as the Democrats considered the top contenders for the U.S. Senate nomination, Rep. Andy Kim (D-3rd) and first lady Tammy Murphy. But Menendez is likely to continue to struggle to raise money — he spent more money on fundraising consultants than he took into his campaign and two political committees in the last three months of last year.  

Murphy, meanwhile, raised in the last quarter almost a third of what Menendez had raised over the last five years. She and Kim started the year with almost the same amount in the bank, about $2.7 million. Another Democrat in the Senate race, Larry Hamm, reported raising around $11,000. The other Democrat, Patricia Campos-Medina, did not announce her candidacy until last month and so did not file a report. 

An examination of several contested House races showed Menendez’s son, Rep. Rob Menendez  trailing Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla in fundraising in the 8th District race. Democratic activist Sue Altman had more than double that of her opponent as they seek to challenge Rep. Tom Kean Jr. in the 7th District and the Democrats hoping to replace Kim in the 3rd District are almost even in funds, with little raised or spent so far. 

Wednesday was the deadline for candidates to file year-end campaign reports with the Federal Election Commission. Incumbents’ totals include money raised throughout the cycle — two years for the House and six for the Senate. 

Menendez’s legal defense fund 

The reports for Bob Menendez’s committees — his Senate campaign committee and two political committees — show few contributions after Menendez’s initial indictment on Sept. 22. Federal prosecutors in New York have accused Menendez of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of bribes, including cash and gold bars found in his home, between 2018 and 2023 in exchange for political favors to benefit the governments of Egypt and Qatar. Menendez pleaded not guilty and has not ruled out running for reelection despite calls for him to resign from Gov. Phil Murphy, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker and numerous other top Democrats in New Jersey and on Capitol Hill. He is planning an aggressive legal defense. 

Reports for Menendez’s campaign committee and a separate legal defense fund that filed a financial report with the Internal Revenue Service as a political organization show that in the second half of 2023, Menendez spent more than $2.6 million on legal services to six different firms, four based in Washington, D.C., one in Chicago and one in Massachusetts. The earliest expenditure and only one prior to the indictment was for $50,000 to the Schertler Oronato firm on July 31. The largest fee was $1 million paid to Paul Hastings, LLP of D.C. on Nov. 13. Adam Fee, an attorney who has led the senator’s defense, is one of three Paul Hastings attorneys on Menendez’s legal team, court records show. 

The Menendez Legal Defense Fund is the only committee associated with him that received significant contributions following the first indictment. In all, the committee took in $469,500 last year, some $220,000 of that after Menendez’s recent legal troubles began. More of the total came from outside of the state than from New Jersey residents and doctors. Those involved in real estate gave heavily. The defense fund committee spent a total of $373,223, mostly on legal fees. 

‘I don’t see how even massive spending could do much to boost his numbers at this point.’ — Dan Cassino, Fairleigh Dickinson University 

Menendez’s campaign account wound up with a net loss of $405 after refunding $16,200 in contributions and taking in only $15,795 in the last quarter of 2023. It spent $2.4 million, all but about $100,000 of that on legal fees. That campaign account also spent more than $28,000 on fundraising consultants. The senator’s leadership fund, New Millennium PAC, spent another $60,000 on fundraising. Still, because he started the year flush with cash, Menendez’s campaign account ended 2023 with close to $6.2 million. Two other accounts had another $400,000. 

Dan Cassino, a professor of government and politics at Fairleigh Dickinson University and executive director of the FDU Poll, said that Menendez’s sizable account is not likely to help if he seeks reelection, given he is trailing in the polls. 

“I don’t see how even massive spending could do much to boost his numbers at this point,” Cassino said. 

Kim vs. Murphy 

It’s a different story for Kim and for Tammy Murphy, who had self-reported financial data earlier this year and started 2024 with roughly the same $2.7 million in the bank. 

“Money is going to matter for both Kim and Murphy,” Cassino said. “Murphy’s support among county organizations means that she’s going to get a lot of GOTV (get out the vote efforts) for free. Kim is going to have to spend a lot of money to staff up if he wants to come anywhere near that.” 

On the other hand, Murphy may need her apparent fundraising prowess — the $3.2 million she raised in the last six weeks of 2023 was a record for a non-incumbent New Jersey candidate for U.S. Senate in the first quarter of raising money, according to her campaign. Murphy will need to spend that money on ads to improve her polling numbers and to distinguish herself from her husband, Cassino said. 

Out of the handful of Republican candidates in the Senate race, only Christine Serrano Glassner filed an FEC report, showing she had raised $267,000 as of the end of last year and spent almost none of it. Curtis Bashaw, a South Jersey developer and hotelier, only entered the GOP race earlier this month and will likely be a contender in fundraising and campaigning. 

While all 12 of the state’s seats in the House of Representatives will be on the ballot this year, only a few are expected to have contested primaries. 

Menendez vs. Bhalla and other races 

Rob Menendez, a freshman representing the same district based in Hudson County that his father did, trails Bhalla in the money race for that 8th District seat. Menendez has the backing of the party organization but had only raised $718,000 with $693,000 in the bank at the end of 2023. Overcoming the detriment of not getting the party line, Bhalla had raised close to $1 million in just the last two months of the year and started 2024 with close to $915,000 to spend. A third candidate, Kyle Jasey, raised less than $50,000. 

In the 3rd District race for Kim’s seat to represent parts of Burlington, Mercer and Monmouth counties, the only Democrats who filed campaign reports are Herb Conaway and Carol Murphy, current Assembly members in the same state legislative district. Carol Murphy, no relation to Tammy Murphy, had raised slightly more than Conaway and had a little more in the bank at the end of last year. But neither had raised much money yet: $48,000 by Carol Murphy and $41,000 by Conaway. Republican Shirley Maia-Cusick, who had originally planned to run for the Senate, reported raising almost $100,000 last year, but most of that was money she lent to her campaign. Republican Gregory Sobocinski had raised less than $10,000. 

And in the sprawling 7th District, which stretches from heavily Republican Warren and Hunterdon counties across to parts of Union County, Altman had raised close to $780,000 and ended the year with $532,000 in the bank, while Jason Blazakis had raised $360,000 with $228,000 on hand. The freshman Kean, meanwhile, had raised $2.7 million, with $2.1 million in the bank. 

— Editor’s note: Benjamin J. Hulac contributed to this story.

— Graphics by Colleen O’Dea