By Matt Rooney
Rebecca Bennett apparently has a way to make childcare more affordable, Save Jerseyans:
Have campaign donors pick up the tab.
A review of Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show $15,786 in childcare expenses paid by Bennett’s campaign during the third quarter alone. That’s roughly $5,262 per month.
For parents paying daycare bills alongside mortgages, groceries, and electric bills, that’s a pretty substantial perk.
The FEC record show childcare expenditures at three different institutions – one of them a public school district – in Central Jersey. It’s public information, sure, but I’m not going to list the names of the organizations here because Becky’s kids deserve more humanity than she affords to people who disagree with her (remember: Bennett is on tape saying she stopped going to church because she didn’t want to sit next to Trump supporters).
Bennett also wants voters to believe she understands their affordability struggles. Her critics are rightly asking how that message squares with having a campaign account absorb thousands of dollars in childcare costs.
And here’s the kicker, Save Jerseyans: Bennett opposed the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” legislation that expanded tax relief for parents—including increasing the maximum Child and Dependent Care Credit rate from 35% to 50% of qualifying expenses beginning in 2026.
Her opposition to the overall package doesn’t establish that she opposes every individual benefit, but it invites a very straightforward question: Will she preserve that relief for parents who don’t have campaign donors paying their childcare bills? Bennett should explain which provisions she would keep and which she would scrap. Families paying their own way deserve something more useful than another anti-Trump talking point.
“Democrat Rebecca Bennett has cooked up quite the scheme. She cosplays as a working-class mom; meanwhile, she’s a millionaire using her donors’ money to bankroll bougie childcare for her kids,” NRCC spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole said. “Bennett is completely out of touch with New Jersey families, and voters will reject her in November.”
The FEC actually permits campaign funds to cover childcare expenses arising directly from campaign activities. Legal license, however, doesn’t make the expenditures any less sleazy or the political sales pitch any more convincing.
Parents don’t need a lecture about how expensive childcare has become. They’re already doing the arithmetic at the kitchen table, figuring out which expense gets postponed and whether working additional hours will actually leave them ahead.
They don’t get to send a fundraising email when the daycare bill arrives.
Bennett is entitled to explain why these expenses were necessary for her campaign. Voters are equally entitled to question the relatability routine.
“Feeling your pain” is considerably easier when your donors are paying the invoice.
