Rep. Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) has a mammoth $3,005,363 cash-on-hand after raising a colossal $946,816 in the second quarter of the year for his bid for a second term in New Jersey’s 7th district.
Kean has raised a mighty $4,240,397 since taking office in January 2023.
“I am grateful for the outpouring of support from dedicated and passionate supporters who understand and share our commonsense values, as well as the priorities of the residents in NJ-07,” Kean said.
After ousting incumbent Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) in 2022 by three percentage points, Kean is a top Democratic target in their bid to flip the House in 2024.
The race between Kean and Democrat Sue Altman is viewed as one of the most competitive in the nation and could decide which party controls the House next year.
Altman outraised Kean in the last two quarters: she brought in $1.65 million, with over $2.2 million banked. In the first quarter, Altman raised $4,042 more than Kean.
The two candidates are also batting over labor endorsements, with Kean doing well despite a bid by national unions to flip the House to the Democratic side. Kean has won the backing of the state building and construction trades unions, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 825; the New Jersey AFL-CIO is sitting the 7th district race out.
“We will continue to spread our campaign’s message and record of working to secure our borders, supporting safer and more prosperous communities, lowering the cost of living across New Jersey, and standing with our allies abroad,” said Kean. “Our campaign will show this district that Sue Altman is a dangerous candidate.”
In the 2022 contest between Kean and Malinowski, the two candidates spent $13.5 million combined – and that’s not counting the $8.5 million that was spent by independent expenditure groups, which often play an outsized role in competitive districts like the 7th.
Kean, a former minority leader of the New Jersey State Senate and the son of a popular former governor, came within one percentage point of taking out Malinowski in 2020.
The 7th district became more Republican under a Democratic map approved by the congressional redistricting commission in 2022. It’s considered a swing district: Joe Biden carried it by four points in 2020, and Gov. Phil Murphy lost it by twelve points the following year.