Roselle Park Mayor Joseph Signorello today launched his bid for the Democratic nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 7th district, setting off a primary fight for the chance to take on freshman Rep. Tom Kean, Jr. in one of the nation’s top House races.
Signorello opened his campaign with a strong attack on Kean.
“He tries to act like a moderate but consistently lines up with MAGA extremists cutting Social Security and Medicare, slashing benefits for our veterans, undercutting our democracy, and launching unprecedented attacks on reproductive rights,” Signorello said. “I’m not afraid to take on do-nothing politicians. I flipped my hometown from red to blue, and I’ll do it again for our district.”
In February, the 35-year-old Signorello had announced his intention to challenge three-term incumbent Bob Menendez in the 2024 Democratic U.S. Senate primary but shifted to the 7th district race after former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) opted out of a rematch with Kean, the Republican who unseated him by three percentage points last year.
Signorello told the New Jersey Globe last month that he was considering switching from the Senate to the House and confirmed on July 3 that he would take on Kean.
The 35-year-old Signorello was elected mayor in 2018, defeating Republican Willian Fahoury by a 54%-27% margin. Incumbent Carl Hokanson, a Democrat running for re-election as an independent, finished third with 18%. He was easily re-elected in 2022. He lost a State Senate bid in 2021 to Republican Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) by eight points.
He joins Sue Altman, the state director of New Jersey Working Families, as the two announced candidates to flip the most competitive congressional district in the state. Altman raised over $200,000 in her first month as a candidate. Signorello reported raising $42,651 for his Senate bid as of March 31, with $35,470 in the bank. He can transfer those funds to his NJ-7 campaign.
Former State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) and Jason Blazakis, a former State Department counterterrorism expert, are also mulling bids for Kean’s seat.
Kean said this morning that he had raised $860,000 in the 2nd quarter and now has $1.5 million cash-on-hand.
He announced his campaign in a nearly three-minute launch video that talks about making tomato sauce with his large Italian family, the loss of his brother, his business success, and his work as mayor of a small working-class town in Union County. He uses images of Kean with former President Donald Trump.
“My family taught me the values of public service and never backing down from a fight,” Signorello said. “I’m a Democrat running for Congress to take a stand for New Jersey families – reproductive rights, saving our planet, protecting our democracy — it’s all at stake.”
Republicans held the 7th district House seat from 1956 until 2018 when Malinowski unseated five-term Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton Township) in Trump’s 2018 midterm election with 52% of the vote. Two years later, Kean came within one percentage point of winning the seat back.
Malinowski’s defeat came partly at the hands of his own party after Democrats on the congressional redistricting commission successfully advocated for a map that shored up three other New Jersey House seats at his expense.
The new 7th went from a district Joe Biden won in 2020 by ten points to one he carried in by four points.
Signorello lives slightly outside the 7th district; he lives instead in the 10th district, represented by Rep. Donald Payne, Jr. (D-Newark).
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