In her U.S. Senate bid, First Lady Tammy Murphy has tapped a pot of campaign cash from contractors and lobbyists who do business with the state government led by Gov. Phil Murphy, an NJ Advance Media analysis has found.
Though a newcomer as a candidate, Tammy Murphy is an experienced fundraiser from the six years her husband has spent as the state’s chief executive. That prowess has continued with her own race, and she reported raising $3.2 million by the end of 2023 despite throwing her hat into the ring only weeks before.
Of her war chest, more than $235,000 came from contractors and lobbyists with business at the Statehouse, federal and state financial disclosures show. While a fraction of the money she raised, those contributions came as her campaign has fought against charges of nepotism, given criticism that the governor’s power is buoying her ambitions.
Political analysts said that for many voters, the donations are unlikely to be seen as anything more than the typical fundraising of a campaign, legally permissible and part-and-parcel of running for office. But to critics, they could further the ongoing political storyline she has faced in the contentious race with her chief opponent, U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, a Burlington County Democrat.
“It’s certainly possible that in normal circumstances, this isn’t the kind of thing that rises to the consciousness of most voters,” said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. “It’s also possible that given the unique narrative of this campaign, it certainly could be one more way in which it feeds into that whole thematic that Andy Kim is trying to paint.”
Murphy received dozens of donations from executives, lawyers, lobbyists and others tied to companies that either hold contracts with the state government or lobby state agencies and the state Legislature, disclosures show. They were identified through Murphy’s federal campaign finance report, and state disclosures that lobbyists and companies with public contracts file with the New Jersey Elections Law Enforcement Commission.
Among the giving was $48,100 from a raft of attorneys at the high-powered law firm Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi, which reported holding $1.7 million in state contracts in its most recent disclosure.
Murphy’s campaign received $22,500 from a number of executives at Hackensack Meridian Health, including CEO Robert Garrett. One of New Jersey’s largest hospital chains, the network spent more than $475,000 lobbying the state last year, according to a financial disclosure last month.
And Murphy also got $19,800 from members of CLB Partners, a West State Street, Trenton, government relations firm that earned $6.2 million lobbying on behalf of clients last year, according to its lobbying disclosure.
The funds come amid a contest for the Democratic nomination that pits Murphy against Kim, who has cast himself as an outsider willing to buck the state’s political powerbrokers. Party leaders have lined up in support of Murphy, which could play a pivotal role in the June primary because county-endorsed candidates enjoy preferential placement on the ballot.
Since she announced her candidacy, Tammy Murphy and her husband have insisted she is running on her own merits and isn’t leveraging his institutional power for her political benefit.
“Tammy is thrilled by the momentum behind her campaign and proud to receive support from all corners of the state, including from faith and community leaders, advocates, Congressional members, and elected officials,” her campaign spokeswoman, Alex Altman, said in a statement. “It goes without saying that the Murphy campaign follows all federal guidelines in accepting contributions, including these contributions, which are from individual donors themselves.”
Representatives for Hackensack Meridian and Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi did not respond to requests for comment. Jon Bombardieri, the managing partner of CLB Partners, declined to comment.
Kim’s campaign also declined to comment.
Kim raised $1.71 million in the final quarter of 2023, and he has touted the number of small donors who gave to him. NJ Advance Media did not find a similar level of contributions from state contractors and lobbyists in his campaign finance disclosure, though Kim reported receiving roughly $175,000 from donors in Washington and the Beltway suburbs.
For both candidates, most of their funding was from individual contributors, including attorneys, CEOs, bankers and business owners. More of Tammy Murphy’s money came from New Jersey: about 52%, compared to about 33% of Kim’s.
Murphy also had more large checks: Nearly 300 donors gave her $6,600, the maximum for an election cycle. Less than 100 donors gave Kim that amount.
Matthew Hale, a political science professor at Seton Hall University and a Democratic member of the Highland Park Borough Council, said it isn’t surprising that state contractors or lobbyists would give to Murphy, considering she could be New Jersey’s next senator. For the donors, he said, those contributions may even seem like a “two-for-one sale” given the two years Phil Murphy has remaining in office.
“If you give money to her Senate campaign and she wins the Senate race, then you have access to New Jersey’s junior senator,” Hale said. “And if she doesn’t win, you’ve shown Governor Murphy that you were on his wife’s team.”
Ben Dworkin, the director of Rowan University’s Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship, said it is not uncommon for leaders involved in state issues to give to federal campaigns, though he called the scenario presented by Phil Murphy’s governorship and Tammy Murphy’s candidacy unprecedented.
“Whether someone’s going to interpret it as buying influence is going to be up to the voters,” Dworkin said. “That’s why this money is disclosed.”
New Jersey has a pay-to-play law that seeks to limit the amount contractors with government business can give to campaigns, though the state Legislature weakened those rules last year. But as a federal candidate, the strictures don’t apply to Tammy Murphy’s campaign, which is governed by federal elections law.
Publicly, Murphy has been critical of how races are financed, though she previously led a dark money group, Stronger Fairer Forward, that raised millions without disclosing its donors.
At a Feb. 18 debate with Kim, Murphy called the amount of money in politics “really disgusting” and said she supports changes to the system. But given the rules that exist, candidates must play by them to succeed, she said.
“We are fighting within the system we have,” Murphy said. “I know people are sick and tired of the situation; I personally am as well.”
Murphy and Kim are seeking to replace U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, a fellow Democrat who faces a federal corruption indictment alleging he took payoffs in exchange for political favors. Also vying for the nomination are labor leader Patricia Campos-Medina and social justice activist Lawrence Hamm.
Whoever wins the primary will be heavily favored in the general election since New Jersey has not sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 1972.
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Riley Yates may be reached at ryates@njadvancemedia.com.
