Actors’ Equity Association, the national labor union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers, has endorsed Democrat Rebecca Bennett in New Jersey’s 7th congressional district.
The union’s National Council voted to back Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot who is challenging three-term Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield).
“Rebecca Bennett is deeply qualified to serve the people of New Jersey in the House,” said Al Vincent Jr., the union’s executive director. “And crucially, she is a supporter of workers’ rights.”
Vincent said the union was “excited to partner” with Bennett’s campaign and called for the district to be represented by a “pro-labor candidate.”
Actors’ Equity, founded in 1913 and affiliated with the AFL-CIO, represents actors and stage managers working in live theater across the country. Its public policy agenda includes collective bargaining rights, increased federal and state funding for the arts, prevailing wage requirements, a higher minimum wage, universal federal health care, and anti-discrimination protections.
The union passed over two former actors who ran for Congress in 2024: Matt Jenkins, who once pursued a professional acting career in New York and lost to Rep. Christopher Smith (R-Manchester); and Mary-Jo Guinchard, a former professional actress and singer who ran against Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly).