Murphy spends more than three times on governor's race than all other candidates combined

Phil Murphy, the Democratic front-runner for governor, has spent $18.4 million so far in the gubernatorial campaign, according to the state Election Law Enforcement Commission, nearly four times as much money than the other 10 candidates have spent combined. All together those candidates have spent $4.9 million, according to the commission.

In disclosure reports released Wednesday, Murphy showed that he has raised $19.3 million since he declared his candidacy last May, but $15 million of it came from his own pocket.

Murphy, who spent two decades at Goldman Sachs before becoming U.S. ambassador to Germany, has come under fire by critics who say he's using his vast wealth to buy his way to the governorship. Murphy has frequently drawn — and rejected — comparisons to his friend and former Goldman executive Jon Corzine, who spent $71 million on his two gubernatorial campaigns, in 2005 and 2009, according to the commission.

Murphy's heavy spending with less than a month until the primary is likely to give his challengers more fuel to portray him as Corzine 2.0. But Murphy's campaign highlighted that 55 percent of his 5,030 individual contributions were $100 or less. Derek Roseman, a campaign spokesman, said the contributions show his broad grass-roots support.

Read more: http://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2017/05/10/gov/315957001/