As New Jersey’s November 3rd elections rapidly approach, Democrats recently received encouraging news about their prospects of maintaining the 48-32 majority they currently enjoy in the General Assembly.

• The Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee possesses a three-to-one fundraising lead over its Republican counterpart, Assembly Republican Victory, according to campaign finance reports released last week. The Democratic committee currently has $989,244 at its disposal compared with just $334,429 for the Republican group.

• Democrats widened the gap with a strong performance in the last fiscal quarter, when they raised nearly $400,000 and the Republicans well under $200,000.

This decisive financial advantage deflates Republican hopes of narrowing or potentially erasing the Democrats’ comfortable majority. With all 80 of the Assembly’s seats up for grabs in November, the monetary disparity will hamper the Republican effort to remove Democrats from office in an array of districts across the state, including those in Bergen, Passaic, Essex, Middlesex, Mercer, Cape May, Atlantic, Cumberland, Camden and Gloucester counties.

Conversely, the Democrats intend to focus primarily on protecting the seats that they already control while supporting qualified challengers. This goal makes these latest financial reports especially promising for Democratic Assemblymen Nelson Albano and Matthew Milam in the state’s hotly contested 1st Legislative District. Both parties plan to pump significant amounts of money into these Cape May County races, where Democrats expect to translate their substantial fundraising advantage into a boost at the polls for both incumbent candidates.

Democrats hope to receive a similar boost in districts throughout the state and see the wide fiscal margin as a promising, albeit still somewhat early, sign of electoral success come November.

Max Selver is a Klindt/Dye Intern for the 2009 Summer Semester.