Spending on this year’s legislative primary reached a record high of $30.7 million for years when only
Assembly seats are in play, according to an analysis of post-election reports filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC).

The 2025 total is 67 percent higher than the inflation-adjusted total for the 2015 Assembly election,
which is the previous high for Assembly-only years.

There are several reasons why this year’s election set a new benchmark.

Individual or corporate donors now can contribute $5,500 to a legislative candidate. Other candidate
committees, political committees and continuing political committees can give the same committees up to $17,300. Both are significant increases permitted under the Elections Transparency Act enacted in 2023.

The total also was swelled by 202 candidates vying for 80 Assembly seats in 2025. In five previous
legislative elections dating to 2015, the average was 177. The result was not only more candidates running, but more contested districts.

Democratic primaries drew 120 candidates while Republican elections featured 82 candidates.

Another reason why Assembly spending reached a new high was because independent expenditure committees spent more than ever - $2.7 million - on a New Jersey legislative primary. The previous high was $2.3 million in the 2021 legislative primary, when both legislative houses were in play.

In a year when 24 legislative districts had five or more candidates vying for four Assembly seats per district, the top ten districts by spending all had contested races.

The ten districts drew 53 percent of all spending by candidates and 47 percent of independent expenditure committee spending.

About one third of all Democrats and Republicans on the primary ballot ran in just the ten districts.

While this year’s $30.7 million in total Assembly spending is a record compared to other Assembly-only elections, it is less than the $33.2 million spent on the 2023 legislative primary, which included candidates running for 40 Senate seats along with contenders for 80 Assembly seats.

During this year’s primary, winners had an enormous financial edge over losers in the June 10 primary. They spent nearly seven times more - $24.3 million versus $3.7 million.

Democrats hold majorities in both houses but they also had the most contested primaries, which tends to drive up spending. Democratic candidates spent $23.2 million compared to $4.7 million for Republicans.

They also had more leftover cash, much of which - $5.2 million - has been transferred to general election accounts. Republicans reported rolling over $1.7 million to the fall elections.

Independent spending in this year’s legislative primary topped $2.7 million.

An ELEC analysis identified 10 independent expenditure committees that spent money on this year’s legislative primaries.

More than $1 million raised by independent expenditure committees came from other independent expenditure committees -37 percent of their total funds.

Candidate totals in this analysis are based on 20-day post-election reports filed by 5 p.m. on August 20, 2025. Reports filed by legislative candidates and independent expenditure committees are available online on ELEC’s website at www.elec.nj.gov. A downloadable summary of data from legislative candidate reports is available in both spreadsheet and PDF formats at www.elec.nj.gov/publicinformation/statistics.htm.