Photo: Screen Capture/PBS NewsHour
Federal authorities are investigating the New Jersey Education Association over its alleged connections to a super PAC that promoted former union president Sean Spiller during his unsuccessful bid for governor.
Politico reported Thursday that investigators are looking into the NJEA's transfer of roughly $40 million in union money to support Spiller's 2025 Democratic campaign for governor. Those funds went to two super PACs linked to the union, Garden State Forward and Working New Jersey.
Working New Jersey, which is led by former NJEA officials, used money for advertising and other campaign costs to boost Spiller in the June 2025 Democratic primary, Politico reported. Spiller's own campaign took in and spent far less.
Politico also reported that several people connected to Working New Jersey have been served with subpoenas, including one that the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey has confirmed. Details about the specific potential state-law violations under review remain "scarce."
According to Politico, the NJEA was already directing money to benefit Spiller before he entered the governor's race. Garden State Forward sent at least $5 million to a nonprofit, Protecting Our Democracy, that promoted the union's president.
Spiller finished fifth in a six-candidate field in the 2025 Democratic gubernatorial primary, taking 10.6% of the vote. The race was won by now-Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
The NJEA is New Jersey's largest public sector union and counts about 200,000 members, according to its website.
A 2017 report from the American Enterprise Institute said the union brought in a little more than $120 million a year, mostly from mandatory dues paid by public school employees and from voluntary political contributions.
The Sunlight Policy Center of New Jersey said individual members typically pay upwards of $1,000 to $1,500 or more each year in combined local, state (NJEA), and national (National Education Association) dues.
In April, the same group released a 24-page research report that alleged the NJEA wasted $45 million of dues on Spiller's failed campaign for governor and that the union "doomed the best chance to improve teachers' pensions."
