Sue Altman announces bid to unseat Tom Kean in NJ-7

Sue Altman, a former teacher and non-profit executive who gained prominence as a grassroots political activist taking on Donald Trump and machine politics on both sides of the aisle, today entered the race for the 2024 Democratic nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 7th district, where Republican Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) is preparing to seek re-election to a second term.

Altman, 41, the state director of New Jersey Working Families, launched her bid to unseat Kean by labeling the freshman congressman as a career politician and Donald Trump apologist trying to maintain a reputation as a right-of-center Republican in New Jersey while forging alliances with more conservative factions of his party in Washington.

“There is too much at stake to sit on the sidelines and watch Tom Kean, Jr. pander to a Republican party that is being led by extremists like Marjorie Taylor Greene and has already taken away a woman’s right to an abortion, stood in the way of any meaningful gun legislation and blocked efforts to address climate change,” Altman said in a statement announcing her candidacy.

The announcement, anticipated since former Rep. Tom Malinowski announced eight days ago that he would not seek a return to Congress, sets the stage for one of the nation’s most competitive and closely-watched House races. National Democrats have put Kean on their early target list, listing his seat as one they must win next year to reclaim a House majority.

“I will be an unwavering advocate for the people of my district by fighting rising costs and high taxes that are diminishing New Jerseyans’ quality of life,” stated Altman.  “I will never stop working to protect a woman’s right to an abortion and to keep our children, schools, and communities safe from gun violence.”

While willing to defer to Malinowski had he chosen to pursue a rematch with Kean, Altman has been energetically seeking support for a congressional run since last November.  She has met with key groups critical to a successful campaign, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Emily’s List, a national group that helps women candidates raise money.   Altman could also receive a financial boost from national funders to the Working Families Party.

Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, believes Altman will be a formidable Democratic candidate.

“Congressman Kean may have been tempted to breathe a sigh of relief that he won’t face yet another rematch, but in his next breath, he now knows he won’t be getting a pass, either.  I don’t think anyone can doubt that Sue Altman will run hard; it’s the only way she practices her politics,” said Rasmussen.  “She’s got more experience than most challengers in crafting and delivering a message, and I don’t think she has ever pulled her punches.  If Team Kean was looking for a timid opponent, they didn’t get it.”

Beginning tomorrow, Altman will take a leave of absence from her state Working Families post and become a full-time candidate in a race where she has already emerged as an early front-runner for the Democratic nomination.

Preparing to transition from her role as an anti-establishment rabble-rouser, Altman told the New Jersey Globe that she would aggressively pursue organization lines in the six counties within the 7th district, an indication that she will work within the confines of a system she disagrees with as long as it remains in place.

“The challenge is a big one and requires a broad coalition,” she explained.  “I intend to work with everyone of like mind in the delegation and across the district to fight for this and take back my home district.”

For the last three years, Altman has played a leading role in a lawsuit filed in federal court challenging the constitutionality of New Jersey election officials’ method to design ballots to favor candidates endorsed by party leaders.

“I’ve been clear about our position on the line,” she said, noting that New Jersey Working Families will continue to direct pending litigation that could take several years to settle.  “Right now, the biggest, scariest, most urgent threat to our country are the right-wing extremists trying to take our basic freedoms away.”

As a first-time candidate, Altman may be held accountable for her own fights against party bosses, especially George E. Norcross III, whose reach extends to national Democrats, influential building trades unions, and party leaders and elected officials in Central Jersey.

Rasmussen thinks she will be able to figure that out.

“To be sure, the positions she has taken are unapologetically progressive, and she’ll unapologetically answer for how they square with both the county party organizations and with the voters of the district,” he said.

A Lambertville resident, Altman grew up in Clinton and led the Voorhees High School basketball team to a sectional championship.  She was a star basketball player at Columbia University and then earned two graduate degrees from Oxford.

“(I) was so inspired by my teachers that I decided to become one,” Altman said.  “These communities are where I grew up and where my parents taught me the importance of hard work, public service, helping others, and fighting for what you believe in.”

Altman said she was urged to take on Kean because of her “track record of results, leadership, and community service as a teacher, a coach, and as an advocate.”

“They know I will work tirelessly to ensure our Democracy works for everyone and that I will deliver meaningful results for the people of the 7th district because I will never back down from a fight,” she said.

Staking out the same ground Malinowski did when he flipped the 7th district in 2018 and sounding much like Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a North Jersey Democrat who managed to oust a GOP incumbent in the next door 5th and hold the seat despite some Republican towns that were moved to the 7th under the current map, Altman pledged to oppose high taxes and restore the state and local tax (SALT) deduction removed by Trump and a Republican Congress, something she calls “a vengeful hit on our communities.”

“We must protect our civil liberties, our fundamental rights, and the natural resources and open spaces that make the 7th District a great place to live,” stated Altman.  “And we must make New Jersey more affordable so it’s possible to retire, to buy a home, and to raise a family here.”

So far, Altman is the first Democrat to enter the race against Kean, although Raymond Lesniak, a 77-year-old former state senator and Democratic State Chairman, has been flirting with running for Congress.

Other potential candidates have already declined to take on Kean, including Assemblyman Roy Freiman (D-Hillsborough), former Deputy U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Jim Johnson, and Matt Klapper, the chief of staff to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and former chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Cory Booker.

Republicans held the 7th district House seat for 62 years until Malinowski unseated Leonard Lance, a five-term incumbent 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 political undoing was aided by 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 newly-drawn 7th went from a district Joe Biden carried in 2020 by ten points to one he prevailed in by four points.   In the 2022 midterm, Kean, the former minority leader of the New Jersey State Senate and the son of popular former Gov. Thomas H. Kean, defeated Malinowski by three points.

As Altman begins to assemble a campaign – she’s hired Sam Rivers, Rep. Andy Kim’s chief fundraiser in 2018 and campaign manager for Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar’s 2022 re-election bid, as her general consultant – she will need to hit the ground immediately to raise money in the last month of the second quarter, a benchmark national Democrats will carefully observe.

In 2017, Malinowski returned to his home state after three decades in Washington, serving in the Clinton and Obama administrations and as Washington director for Human Rights Watch.  He entered the race to unseat five-term Rep. Leonard Lance in October and raised $528,471 in his first three months in the race.

If elected, Altman would become just the eighth woman to represent New Jersey in Congress since Mary T. Norton (D-Jersey City), a loyalist to Jersey City Mayor and Hudson Democratic boss Frank Hague, was elected in 1924.   Six of the seven– Florence Dwyer (R-Elizabeth), Millicent Fenwick (R-Bernardsville), Helen Meyner (D-Phillipsburg),  Marge Roukema (R-Ridgewood), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), and Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair)  —  represented parts of what is now the 7th district.

In a statement, Kean’s chief strategist, Harrison Neely said that Altman “represents the most divisive and extreme aspects of the fringe of her party.”

“While she backs dangerous movements like defunding the police, Congressman Kean is fighting to make New Jersey more affordable, secure the border and work across the aisle to find bipartisan, common-sense solutions to our national challenges,” Neely said. “It is the responsible leadership his constituents deserve and why he will be successful in 2024, whoever the opponent may be.”