PublicIntegrity.org – Despite Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s status as the overwhelming favorite to win Tuesday’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary election in New Jersey, a super PAC spent more than $500,000 supporting his candidacy, records show.
More than half of the recently formed Mobilization Project’s initial contributions have come from employees in the securities and investment industry, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis.
Just six donors accounted for all of the $375,000 raised by the group between its inception on July 15 and July 24, the period covered in the pre-primary campaign finance report it was required to file with the Federal Election Commission.
Booker faces Democratic U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone and Rush Holt and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver in a special primary, called to fill the seat of the late Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who died on June 3. A recent Quinnipiac poll shows Booker with 54 percent of the vote and no challenger drawing more than 17 percent.
The Mobilization Project received $100,000 from Seth Klarman, CEO of the Baupost Group, a Massachusetts-based hedge fund. Ravenel B. Curry III and Ravenel B. Curry IV, both investors with New York-based hedge fund Eagle Capital Management, each also chipped in $50,000.
