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Bridgegate debt climbs to $1M for Christie's '13 campaign

More than two and a half years after New Jersey voters elected Gov. Christie to a second term, his reelection campaign now owes more than $1 million in debt related to the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal.

More than two and a half years after New Jersey voters elected Gov. Christie to a second term, his reelection campaign now owes more than $1 million in debt related to the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal.

The campaign's debts have continued to climb even as Christie unsuccessfully pursued a new campaign for the White House that ended in February.

Christie's 2013 reelection campaign owes creditors $1,051,345, according to a campaign-finance filing made public Thursday by state election regulators.

That's up from about $800,000 in January 2015, records show.

The Christie campaign owes about $690,000 to the law firm Patton Boggs, which helped the campaign respond to a subpoena in January 2014 from federal prosecutors investigating the lane closures.

It also owes about $360,000 to Stroz Friedberg LLC, a New York-based data recovery firm.

Prosecutors charged three of Christie's former allies in an alleged scheme to close lanes near the bridge to punish a local mayor who didn't endorse the Republican governor's reelection bid.

One pleaded guilty and two are set to face trial in September.

Under New Jersey law, the Christie campaign may seek approval from the state Election Law Enforcement Commission to retire the debt in 2020.

The campaign must show that it has made efforts to retire outstanding obligations.

The campaign has not raised any money this year, according to campaign-finance records.

It has $42,000 in cash.

By contrast, the state GOP announced this week that it had paid off all of its bridge-related legal bills, which totaled about $500,000.