• MT-Sen, NV-Sen: Major outside groups from both parties that are involved in Senate races announced this week their first TV ad reservations for the general election, a move that allows these super PACs to lock in cheaper ad rates before high demand for pushes prices up.
Politico reports that the pro-Democratic Senate Majority PAC has booked $27 million to defend Montana Sen. Jon Tester and $36 million to protect Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen. For Republicans, NBC says that the Senate Leadership Fund is reserving $24.6 million in Montana, with its allies at American Crossroads booking a similar $23.3 million in that state. SMP's ads will start sometime in the summer, while the GOP's spots are set to begin Sept. 3 and continue through Election Day.
• NJ-Sen: Republican Curtis Bashaw, a developer who is the former executive director of the New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Authority, announced Monday that he would run for the Senate. Bashaw would be the state's first gay member of the upper chamber, though he'd need exceptional luck to win a state that hasn't elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972.
• DE-Gov: New campaign finance reports show New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer finishing 2023 with a hefty $1.7 million to $688,000 cash on hand advantage over Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long in the race for Delaware's open governorship, though the two won't face off until the Sept. 10 Democratic primary.
A third Democrat, National Wildlife Federation leader Collin O'Mara, has not yet announced he's joining the race to replace termed-out Democratic incumbent John Carney, but he's already begun seeding his war chest and finished December with $870,000 available, thanks mostly to self-funding.
Meyer outraised Hall-Long, who paused fundraising for most of October while her campaign conducted an internal audit, $675,000 to $171,000 over the course of last year. The Delaware News Journal also notes that Meyer self-funded an additional $200,000, while Hall-Long transferred another $650,000 from other committees to her new effort.
Republicans last won the governorship in 1988, and so far they don't seem to be making a serious effort to end that drought. The only announced GOP candidate appears to be retired Rehoboth Beach police officer Jerrold Price, who launched in early December but only reported bringing in $5,000 from a loan. The First State's filing deadline for major party candidates is July 9, which is later than any state but Louisiana.
• NJ-Gov: Republican state Sen. Jon Bramnick announced over the weekend that he would compete in next year's race to succeed New Jersey's termed-out governor, Democrat Phil Murphy. Bramnick, who earned the title "Funniest Lawyer in New Jersey" in what Politico's Matt Friedman calls "a State Bar Association contest decades ago," launched his 2025 effort from a comedy club where he sometimes still takes the stage.
Bramnick has stood out for years as a rare Republican critic of Trump, giving him crossover appeal that helped him win reelection last year 53-46 in a seat that Joe Biden took 58-41 in 2020. But the state senator, who previously served as the state Assembly's minority leader, hasn't faced a primary opponent since well before Trump came on the political scene.
Still, Bramnick insisted to the New York Times' Tracey Tully that he wouldn't change his approach for a statewide bid. "I'm not going to try to thread the needle," he said, referring to the tension between appealing to Trump-loving primary voters and a more moderate electorate at large. "I don’t think that’s what people want. They want authenticity."
Bramnick joins a nomination battle that includes former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, who announced a second bid days after losing the 2021 general election to Murphy by a surprisingly narrow 51-48 spread. Friedman adds that conservative radio host Bill Spadea "has also been making the rounds in New Jersey for a potential gubernatorial run."
The Democratic field is also still taking shape. Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop and former state Senate President Steve Sweeney both announced last year, though Tully adds that Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, as well as Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill, are each "expected" to launch their own campaigns at some point.