Robert Menendez
DIncumbentFEC H2NJ13075
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Raised this cycle$1.4M
Cash on hand: $1.0M
All New Jersey races
2026 race
NJ-08 — U.S. House
4 active candidates on file with the FEC. Incumbent: Robert Menendez.
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Democratic primary · Tuesday, June 2, 2026
Called by manual backfill (AP/Wikipedia/Ballotpedia)
Robert MenendezWon68.9%
- DMussab AliDefeated31.1%
Republican primary · Tuesday, June 2, 2026
Called by audit: no contest
Result pending — see source for details.
Election day
135days
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Make sure you can vote
Disclosed money in race
$1.6M
Candidate + outside spending. See finance breakdown below.
Incumbents
Currently in office
Robert Menendez
DDefeatedIncumbentFEC H2NJ08232
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Raised this cycle—
Cash on hand: —
Challengers
Sorted by fundraising
Richard Joseph Barilla
IChallengerFEC H6NJ08183
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Raised this cycle$6K
Cash on hand: $2K
1 defeated candidate — show
Mussab Ali
DDefeatedChallengerFEC H6NJ08209
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Raised this cycle$181K
Cash on hand: $98K
Local signal
Early read on NJ-08 — U.S. House
A directional read on where this seat is trending, from the signals we have so far. This is an early scaffold — more inputs light up as coverage and constituent activity accrue.
Coverage tone · the matchup
Recent news coverage of the nominees heading to the general election.
Robert Menendezlimited coverage
No tracked coverage in the last 90 days yet.
A media signal, not a poll of the district.
Constituent stakes
No one here has staked a position on a tracked vote yet. As neighbors weigh in on /pressure campaigns, the district's lean will show up here.
Money in the race
Finance breakdown
Disclosed funding shaping this race — both the money candidates raise themselves and the outside spending dropped by independent groups. Issue-ad spending by 501(c)(4) groups is excluded; the FEC doesn't require disclosure of it. See the note below for details.
Total disclosed
$1.6M
Candidate fundraising + independent expenditures (FEC).
Candidate-direct (Schedule A)
$1.6M
Raised by candidate committees themselves.
Outside spending (Schedule E)
$10
$10 for · $0 against
| Candidate | Raised directly | Outside for | Outside against | Net in corner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Robert Menendez(D)incumbent + SIERRA CLUB INDEPENDENT ACTION $10 | $1.4M | $10 | — | $1.4M |
Richard Joseph Barilla(I) | $6K | — | — | $6K |
2 defeated candidates — show finances
| Candidate | Raised directly | Outside for | Outside against | Net in corner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mussab Ali(D)defeated | $181K | — | — | $181K |
Robert Menendez(D)incumbentdefeated | $0 | — | — | $0 |
Where the money comes from
In-state vs out-of-state
Share of each candidate's itemized individual contributions from donors inside NJ versus the rest of the country. Excludes sub-$200 unitemized donations (no geography on file) and PAC money — see note below.
Robert Menendez(D)45% in-state · $852K itemized
$382K in-state$471K out-of-state
What's counted, what isn't
Candidate-direct is each campaign's reported receipts on FEC Schedule A — individual contributions plus PAC contributions to the candidate's own committee — through the most recent filing.
Outside spending is independent expenditures on FEC Schedule E: money spent by PACs, super PACs, and party committees for or against a candidate, without legal coordination with the campaign. The committees listed under each candidate are the largest disclosed spenders on either side.
In-state vs out-of-state covers only itemized individual contributions — donations over $200, which are the only ones that carry a contributor address at the FEC. Sub-$200 unitemized donations (often a large share for grassroots campaigns) have no geography on file and are excluded, as is PAC money. So the percentages describe where a candidate's itemized individual money comes from, not where every dollar raised comes from.
Not counted: 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organizations run issue ads that frequently mention candidates by name but aren't classified as express advocacy under FEC rules — they file no Schedule E and don't appear in this breakdown. Press reporting on a race may cite figures that include this dark-money spending; ours doesn't.
About this race page
Candidate roster is sourced from the FEC's active-candidate list for the 2026 cycle. Fundraising totals reflect committee filings through the last reporting period.
Alignment % compares the candidate's extracted policy positions against your quiz answers. Positions are pulled from the candidate's campaign issues page by AI; we save the source quote for each position so you can verify the extraction. Candidates without a campaign issues page show position data pending — we're working through the roster and re-checking stale extractions every 90 days.
News coverage is from the GDELT 2.0 global news feed, filtered to a curated list of national, political, and regional outlets.