Becchi raises $387k for congressional bid vs. Malinowski

Republican congressional candidate Rosemary Becchi has raised $387,712 for her bid to unseat freshman Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Rocky Hill) in New Jersey’s 7th district.

A former U.S. Senate staffer, Becchi faces State Sen. Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) and human resources executive Tom Phillips for the GOP nomination to challenge Malinowski.

Becchi has spent $111,443 and has $276,629 cash-on-hand, according to her filing with the Federal Election Commission.  She loaned $100,050 to her campaign and additional in-kind contributions of $34,000.

“I’m very excited about this overwhelming display of support and the grassroots energy that is carrying my campaign. Everywhere I go in the 7th District, people are coming up to me asking how to get involved and encouraging me to move forward,” said Becchi. “People are tired, as I am, of these uninspiring, career politicians in Washington and Trenton who are ignoring the problems of everyday people and families in our state. I want to change that.”

Becchi has received endorsements from two national conservative groups, FreedomWorks for America and Maggie’s List, and form VIEW PAC, which seeks to increase the number of GOP women in Congress.

“Tom Malinowski has been in Congress less than a year, yet he is already fully immersed in that D.C. political culture clamoring for impeachment, open borders, attacking our First and Second Amendment rights and ending our American way of life through the so-called Green New Deal,” she added. “We need someone down there who wants to get serious about making New Jersey more affordable, making education more affordable, and bringing the national debt and deficit under control.”

Kean has raised nearly $1 million for his congressional bid, while Malinowski has taken in almost $1.78 million.

Malinowski beat five-term incumbent Leonard Lance (R-Clinton Township) by 16,400 votes, 52%-47%, becoming the first Democrat to win the 7th district seat since 1956.

As a first-time candidate, Malinowski raised nearly $6.3 million – more than double what Lance raised.  Those totals do not include independent expenditures made for or against either candidate, or spending made by candidates’ political action committees.

The 7th district has 3,004 more Republicans than Democrats. Malinowski defeated Lance by a 52%-47% margin in 2018.

Hillary Clinton carried the district by 4,139 votes, 48%-47%, against Donald Trump in 2016.  Four years earlier, Mitt Romney won the 7th by 21,033 votes, 53%-47%, against Barack Obama.