Democratic Congresswoman Facing Federal Charges After Incident at Newark ICE Facility Has Record Fundraising Quarter
AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis
Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) has been in Congress less than a year, but broke fundraising records for her re-election campaign, fueled by Democratic outrage over an incident at an immigrant detention facility in May.
McIver was part of a group of New Jersey Democrats who visited the ICE facility at Delaney Hall in Newark on May 9, including the city’s mayor Ras Baraka and her congressional colleagues Reps. Rob Menendez (D-NJ) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), to protest the treatment of the immigrants detained there. The members of Congress were permitted to enter under by Department of Homeland Security officials under their oversight powers but Baraka was arrested after he tried to join them.
Body camera footage showed a tense and physical altercation between the Democratic representatives, other protesters, and officers as Baraka was arrested, including shouting and shoving.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba hailed Baraka’s arrest but dropped the charges later that month and announced charges against McIver, accusing the congresswoman of having “assaulted, impeded, and interfered with law enforcement in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1 1 1 (a)(1).”
McIver has strongly denied any accusations that she “body-slammed” an ICE officer and has released a statement calling the charges “purely political”:
Earlier this month, I joined my colleagues to inspect the treatment of ICE detainees at Delaney Hall in my district. We were fulfilling our lawful oversight responsibilities, as members of Congress have done many times before, and our visit should have been peaceful and short. Instead, ICE agents created an unnecessary and unsafe confrontation when they chose to arrest Mayor Baraka. The charges against me are purely political—they mischaracterize and distort my actions, and are meant to criminalize and deter legislative oversight. This administration will never stop me from working for the people in our district and standing up for what is right. I am thankful for the outpouring of support I have received and I look forward to the truth being laid out clearly in court.
A federal grand jury returned an indictment against McIver in June. She pled not guilty and has a trial date scheduled in November.
First elected in a special election last September after the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-NJ) and then elected to her first full term in November, McIver has enjoyed the backing of New Jersey Democratic Party leaders and a district that is one of the bluest in the country. As a result, she’s sailed through her primaries and obliterated her Republican opponents in landslide general election victories — and has not had to focus as much energy on fundraising as most other congressional rookies.
During the entire year of 2024 (covering both the primary and general elections for the September special election and November regular election), Federal Elections Commission reports show McIver raised $646,828.28 and spent $484,650.82, ending the year with $163,212.47 cash on hand.
That modest trend continued for the first quarter of 2025, with McIver’s campaign raising $65,143.34, spending $87,735.99, and ending with $140,619.82 cash on hand.
The incident at Delaney Hall in May propelled McIver’s name into headlines nationwide, and into the consciousness of Democratic donors across the country as well.
According to a report by Joey Fox at the New Jersey Globe, the second quarter of 2025 was a financial windfall for McIver, with her campaign reporting that it raised $751,704, mostly in small-dollar donations from Democrats all over the U.S.
“Not only is that McIver’s largest fundraising quarter ever, it’s more than McIver had previously raised for her congressional campaigns total,” wrote Fox. “It’s also more than any prior candidate for the 10th congressional district had raised in a single quarter, including during competitive Democratic primaries in 1980, 1986, and 2012.”
The “small donor army that now makes up the core of the Democratic fundraising base” has rallied to McIver’s side, the report noted, with $466,966 — over 62% — of her Q2 fundraising coming from unitemized contributions of $200 or less.
The congresswoman reported $628,381 cash on hand at the end of the quarter, which can legally be used to pay her attorneys’ fees. McIver is represented by two high-profile former federal prosecutors, former U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman and former Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Cortes.
