At the same point in 2019, candidates had just $3.4 million left, ELEC said. That year, only Assembly members ran, except for one special Senate election. This year, both the Assembly and Senate are on the ballot.
The $37.3 million raised by candidates for the 2021 primary was the most ever in dollars unadjusted for inflation, but it was relatively modest if totals from previous years are stated in today’s dollars, ELEC said.
Independent spending by special interests in legislative primaries reached a new high in 2021 at just over $2 million. The total towers over the miniscule $15,000 spent during the 2019 legislative primary elections, and most was spent in North Jersey districts.
Democrats, who have made up the legislative majority since 2001, spent four times more than Republicans on the primary — $21.4 million versus $5.3 million — and finished with $8.3 million versus $2.3 million for Republicans.
Blasts from the past
The grandsons of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and of FDR’s 1941-45 Vice President Harry A. Wallace are showing their progressive bona fides by speaking out for the American Jobs Act as a way to address structural racism and economic inequality.
James Roosevelt Jr., of Boston, and Scott Wallace, of Philadelphia, said last week they want to see urgent action to tackle long-term unemployment and underemployment through a new subsidized jobs program as part of the American Jobs Act.
