The National Journal’s Alex Clearfield asked engineer Hirsh Singh about running against freshman Democratic Rep. Jeff Van Drew and writes that he “is neither ruling it in nor out.” Singh ran for New Jersey’s 2nd District last cycle in what was an open seat race, and let’s just say his campaign did not go well. At all.
When Singh entered the race, he reportedly assured local GOP leaders that he'd pour $2 million of his own money into his bid. However, his financial disclosures later revealed that, rather than being a multi-millionaire, his actual assets sat somewhere between $51,000 and $115,000. He listed between $1,000 and $15,000 of those assets as coming from casino winnings, writing in the description, "Hit black 13 on Roulette in Atlantic City after the first annual GOP Leadership Summit ;-)." Yes, Singh really included that winky emoticon in his official financial disclosure statement.
However, Singh got a ;-( from voters on primary night when former Atlantic County Freeholder Seth Grossman beat him 39-31; Grossman’s own campaign also turned out to be a disaster, though he also hasn’t ruled out another try this cycle. Singh’s campaign ended up spending a total of $144,000, an amount we’re told is considerably less than $2 million.