Few contested races, little spending in New Jersey’s June primaries

All of the seats in the New Jersey Legislature are up for election this year. The state’s election watchdog agency said the candidates have $12 million in campaign reserves.

Democratic candidates have $8.2 million set aside for their campaigns. That’s more that twice as much as the Republicans.

Jeff Brindle, Election Law Enforcement Commission executive director, expects little of that will be spent before the June primary.

“There aren’t that many contested primary elections. So we anticipate, as has been the case in the past, that most of this money, this $12 million dollars, will be rolled over into the general election this year,” Brindle said.

Brindle attributes the slow pace of fundraising this year to economic weakness and the state’s pay-to-play laws that limit contributions from state government contractors.

The candidate with the most campaign cash on hand is Sen. Dick Codey with almost $1.2 million.