Concentrated Influence: Following the Money in NJ Politics (2019–2024)

Last year, NJ21st published a multi-part series tracking the flow of grey money into County Committees between 2019 and 2023 — helping clarify how more than $50 million from non-individual entities, like PACs, moved through the county networks.

This year, we’ve built a more robust infrastructure to collect, clean, and analyze a more complete dataset. The link below leads to an interactive dashboard capturing all campaign contributions from 2019 through 2024.

With an expanded timeframe and improved tools, we begin this year’s reporting at the state level — the first installment in our new series.

Of particular interest is the continued explosion of money moving through non-individual channels such as Political Action Committees (PACs).

As we noted last year:

“While PACs are a legitimate way for groups to support causes and candidates, they also provide an avenue for immense influence by wealthy donors and organizations. By raising and channeling vast sums of money, PACs can create significant disparities in access to elected representatives and influence over policy decisions.”

From 2019 to 2024, New Jersey saw more than $280 million in campaign contributions — much of it flowing through a dense and often opaque network of PACs, unions, corporations, and other interest groups.

We’re grateful to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) for maintaining this critical data. In the months ahead, they are also rolling out improvements that will make future public access and data collection even more effective.

Link to our First in a Series - Concentrated Influence: Following the Money in NJ Politics (2019–2024) Part 1 (State Level Data and Insights)

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