Cory Booker has raised more than nearly every candidate for Congress running in 2026

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker has raised more than $30 million for his re-election campaign, outdoing the vast majority of candidates running for either chamber of Congress in 2026.

The New Jersey Democrat has raised the second most amount of money for the 2026 elections for U.S. House and Senate as of the end of last year, behind only Sen. Jonathan Ossoff (D., Ga.), according to Federal Election Commission reports.

Booker is widely considered a potential presidential contender for 2028, after unsuccessfully seeking the office in 2020.

The lawmaker doesn’t have any serious challengers at this point for his Senate seat, and he could leave this cycle with extra money he could use for a future presidential run.

His campaign has nearly $22 million cash on hand and no debt. He’s been adding to his coffers since he began his most recent term in 2021.

More than 200,000 people donated to Booker in 2025 and roughly 80% were small donations of $25 or less, according to Booker’s campaign.

“Cory is backed by a grassroots movement that recognizes the importance of strong, principled leadership that stands up in this moment,“ his campaign manager Adam Silverstein said in a statement. ”We are grateful for this incredible outpouring of support and will keep building the infrastructure we need to win in 2026 and elect Democrats at every level.”

The New Jersey Democrat saw a fundraising spike when he delivered a record-breaking 25-hour speech on the Senate floor last year. He raised nearly $9.7 million in the second quarter of 2025, the period which included his speech, far more than any other quarter last year.

Booker criticized President Donald Trump on a host of issues in the speech and held up a pocket Constitution. He also acknowledged his own party’s failure to prevent Trump’s return to office.

“I confess that the Democratic Party has made terrible mistakes that gave a lane to this demagogue,” he said in his speech. “I confess we all must look in the mirror and say, ‘We will do better.‘”

Laura Matos, a New Jersey Democratic operative, said Booker was already a “known entity,” and his speech came at a time when Democrats across the country were looking for someone to stand up to Trump.

“For 25 hours, his people could constantly churn out, like every hour, ‘He’s still on the Senate floor, show him you support him,’” said Matos, a partner at lobbying and public affairs firm MAD Global Strategy Group. “The way that fundraising works, you can really build upon things like that. He was prolific before that, and then that just kind of skyrocketed it.”

Ossoff, the 2026 federal candidate who reported more than Booker, has raised nearly $64 million and faces a more competitive race in a key swing state.

Booker was viewed as a rising star in the party several years ago before dropping his primary bid for president in 2020 in part because he didn’t have enough money or support.

He began serving as mayor of Newark in 2006 until he was first elected to the U.S. Senate in a 2013 special election.

Booker is also heading into a national tour to promote Stand, his new book set to publish next month.

The book combines Booker’s personal reflections with stories of American leaders from President George Washington to Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, and “offers a hopeful and practical path forward,” according to his publisher MacMillan.

The tour will include a stop at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, where Gov. Mikie Sherrill was inaugurated, as well as a book shop in D.C. and church in St. Louis.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, another potential 2028 Democratic contender, recently embarked on a book tour of his own.

Most of Booker’s money comes from outside of New Jersey.

According to FEC data from January through September 2025, he received the most money from California, followed by New York.

While Booker is raking in money, he’s also spending it. He spent the fourth most out of all 2026 Senate candidates, reporting $14 million in spending since 2021.

One of his biggest expenses was in April when his campaign spent $1.2 million on an email list acquisition.

The only other candidate who has reporting fundraising for the New Jersey Senate race so far is Justin Murphy, a Republican from the Pinelands who reported a little over $3,500.

Several other Republicans have expressed interest in running in the primary, and county parties will hold conventions in the coming weeks to endorse candidates.

Luke Ferrante, the executive director of New Jersey GOP, said the party is planning “a robust effort statewide” to unseat Booker.

“New Jerseyans across the state are eager to elect a Statewide representative that is focused on delivering for its residents, not their greater Washington ambitions,” Ferrante said.