The details of Vice President Kamala Harris’ fundraising success in the first few days of her campaign may not be known for several weeks. But so far, people in New Jersey have been generous to 2024 presidential candidates, giving some $13.7 million through the end of June, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Data from the FEC shows Harris – through her campaign with President Biden – benefitting the most of any candidate, having gotten $4.7 million from individuals in the state. Republican Donald Trump’s campaign had gotten a little over $4 million.
Two primary candidates each got more than $1 million from New Jerseyans: former GOP Gov. Chris Christie took in nearly $1.9 million, while fellow Republican and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley got some $1.3 million. Individuals gave $1.8 million to other primary candidates and independent Robert Kennedy Jr.
New Jersey ranks 11th among states in total contributions to presidential candidates so far. The most generous contributors – California, Florida and Texas — also have the largest populations. New Jersey is the 11th most populous state.
“New Jersey has long been a sending state when it comes to political contributions to national campaigns,” said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics.
That a Democratic presidential candidate would raise more money from a reliably Democratic state where residents are among the wealthiest in the nation is not surprising. New Jerseyans have voted for Democrats for the presidency since 1992, and have not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate for since 1972.
The FEC data does not reflect the tsunami of donations Democrat Harris’ campaign has reported raising since Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday and endorsed his running mate. According to Harris campaign officials, some $81 million poured in within the first 24 hours and, as of Sunday, the campaign had taken in more than $200 million.
Because Harris was running jointly with Biden, her campaign is allowed to use the money raised for the president’s re-election bid, according to the Campaign Legal Center. Trump filed a challenge to that decision with the FEC.
As of June 30, according to the FEC, the Biden and Harris campaign had raised a total of $278 million, with about 42% coming from individual donors. Trump had taken in $217 million, with 5% from individuals. The bulk of Trump’s election fund is money transferred in from political committees, including Make America Great Again Inc. and Save America, groups that get contributions from individuals.
NJ Spotlight News analyzed the contributions from New Jerseyan to the presidential campaigns and found that the Harris’ campaign received an average $479 each from close to 10,300 individuals.
More than 100 gave the maximum $6,600 — $3,300 each for the primary and general elections. Among them were Gov. Phil Murphy and his wife Tammy, who are also listed as each having given $100,000 on June 26 to what was then the Biden Victory Fund PAC, developers and Minnesota Vikings co-owners Zygmunt and Mark Wilf and former U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman.
The Harris campaign got money from much of the state, according to the NJ Spotlight News analysis. The most came from zip codes considered some of the most liberal and wealthy in New Jersey, with four providing more than $100,000 each: 08540 in Princeton, 07078 in Short Hills, 07960 in Morristown and 07042 in Montclair.
One of those, 07960, was also among the most generous zip codes to Trump. Topping the list was 08057 in Moorestown, bolstered by what appears to be a donation of about $7,500 from Vernon Hill, who founded the former Commerce Bancorp in Cherry Hill. Hill is also listed separately on the FEC website as having given $14,900 to the Trump Save America leadership PAC. Toms River’s 08753 zip code, in the heart of the GOP-dominated Ocean County, and 07458 in Upper Saddle River in Bergen County were also top contributors to Trump.
In addition to Hill, 13 others gave the maximum $6,600 to the Trump presidential campaign fund. There were more than 9,500 individual contributors, who gave an average $420 apiece.
The largest chunk of money given to both candidates came from those not currently working. Individuals provide their own descriptions of their occupation and employer so this data is likely more of an estimate. For instance, someone who is retired may have written “retired,” while someone else may have said they were not employed.
Roughly half of Trump’s New Jersey donors said they were retired; they gave a little more than $2 million. About a third of the money in Harris’ campaign account from New Jersey, or $1.5 million, came from those who said they were not employed, and another $444,000 was given by those who indicated they were retired. Harris’ next largest sources of money were attorneys ($259,000) and executives ($111,000). For Trump, other big groups of donors were the self-employed ($316,000) and entrepreneurs ($59,000).
