Democrat Josh Gottheimer has brought in more than $1 million for his congressional campaign, including $400,000 from July to September.
WASHINGTON -- Former White House speechwriter Josh Gottheimer has raised more than $1 million in his likely quest to take on incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett, new Federal Election Commission filings show.
Gottheimer, a Democrat who has yet to formally announce his candidacy, pulled in $400,232 from July 1 to Sept. 30 after raising $631,023 during the first six months of the year. He had $934,192 in the bank as of Sept. 30. He spent just $52,246, most of it in processing fees for credit card donations.
His fundraising ensures that Garrett (R-5th Dist.) will face a heavily funded opponent for the second straight election cycle. He easily dispatched his 2014 challenger, Roy Cho, who raised $1.3 million, more than any other challenger in the state.
Garrett, the most conservative member of the New Jersey delegation, is also rated as its most vulnerable incumbent, according to the Cook Political Report and the Rothenberg and Gonzales Political Report, two Washington publications that track congressional races.
His rating changed following published reports that he refused to donate to the House Republicans' fundraising arm because it backed gay candidates.
RELATED: JPMorgan exec to host event for N.J. Rep. Garrett challenger
Gottheimer received $2,000 donations from both House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) . Hoyer contributed another $5,000 through his leadership political action committee. The trial lawyers' PAC donated $10,000.
He also was helped by the liberal online fundraising group ActBlue, which has solicited contributions totaling $170,812.
Garrett reported a bank account balance of $2.2 million through June 30, more than all but 13 other House members. He raised $385,247 through June 30. Fundraising reports for the last three months are due Thursday.
Garrett is a founding member of the Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative House Republicans, and voted against a temporary spending bill that kept the government open past Sept. 30. Like other members of the Freedom Caucus, he said he would not vote for any spending bill that included money for Planned Parenthood.
He voted against re-electing U.S. Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) as House speaker in January and opposed elevating House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to the post after Boehner announced his resignation.
Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.