Booker raises $4.6M in 2nd quarter

Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker (D) raised a staggering $4.6 million in the second quarter of the cycle and now has $4.5 million cash on hand for his Senate campaign in New Jersey.

{mosads}The haul may be enough to vault him ahead of his opponents in fundraising. 

At the end of the last quarter, before Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s (D-N.J.) death and the beginning of the special election to replace him, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D), a prolific fundraiser in his own right, had $3.7 million in the bank. 

Booker reported raising $1.9 million in the first quarter of the year and overall has raised $6.5 million this year.

The sum has allowed him to launch two ads in the primary, making him, thus far, the only candidate in the race to go on air.

Of the more than 7,000 donors that contributed to Booker’s campaign, less than half, 2,070, came from within the state — a number that could open him to attacks from opponents that he has used his national profile and connections to line his campaign coffers.

With little time before the Aug. 13 primary, however, it’s likely his primary opponents, Rep. Rush Holt and Pallone, will need to tap any out-of-state donors they have as well. 

Neither Holt nor Pallone has released their second quarter numbers.