Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) has won re-election against Democratic challenger Sue Altman, the New Jersey Globe projects, securing a second term in New Jersey’s most competitive congressional district after a hard-fought and expensive race.
As of 1:21 a.m., Kean leads Altman, the former state director of the progressive Working Families Party, by just under seven percentage points, 52.5% to 45.7%.
“Tonight, we celebrate not just a victory, but our commitment to our hard work ahead,” Kean said in his victory speech in Basking Ridge. “And I would like to thank my opponent, Sue Altman, for running a spirited race.”
Kean, who served in the New Jersey State Legislature for two decades and was for many years the Republican leader in the State Senate, long had ambitions of joining Congress. The son of former Gov. Tom Kean, the younger Kean ran for the 7th congressional district in 2000, for the U.S. Senate in 2006, and again for the 7th district in 2020, narrowly losing that year to Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes).
In 2022, Kean finally got the golden opportunity he was waiting for. In an effort to shore up other Democratic incumbents elsewhere, Democrats on New Jersey’s Congressional Redistricting Commission redrew Malinowski’s district to be much more Republican, essentially scuttling the congressman’s re-election chances; he still kept the race competitive, but Kean unseated him 51.4% to 48.6% in the end.
It was a critical victory for Republicans, who narrowly won control of the House that year, but Democrats were emboldened by the relatively small margin in a district they had largely written off. Malinowski decided not to run for a rematch, leaving the field wide open for another Democrat to take Kean on instead.
Several potentially strong contenders entered the race, among them former U.S. State Department official Jason Blazakis, Roselle Park Mayor Joe Signorello III, and Summit Councilman Greg Vartan. But it was Altman, a prominent figure in state progressive circles, who emerged as the consensus Democratic choice; she boxed all of her primary opponents out and won the primary uncontested.
The general election that followed between Kean and Altman was an expensive and intense one.
Altman excoriated Kean, who developed a reputation as a moderate in the state legislature, for bowing to more right-wing Republicans in Congress on issues like abortion and immigration. She also hit Kean over his reluctance to speak with the media; the congressman rarely gives interviews or holds in-person town halls in his district.
Kean, meanwhile, dug up Altman’s long history as an activist to bludgeon her with her past progressive views. He got particular mileage out of a social media post from 2020 in which Altman said she was working to “#DefundThePolice,” and he painted Altman as an out-of-touch extremist who would raise taxes and undermine public safety.
Both candidates proved to be strong fundraisers, flooding the expensive New York City media market with ads touting their own moderate credentials and bashing their opponent. Altman very slightly outraised Kean in total, $5.64 million to $5.56 million, an impressive feat given that she had to build up a campaign from scratch in 2023.
Outside groups, too, saw the race as competitive enough that they invested heavily. Republican super PACs, among them a PAC led by billionaire Elon Musk, spent nearly $9 million boosting Kean, while Democratic PACs – which waited until the last few weeks of the race to get involved – spent a little over $4 million.
Their belief that the race was competitive was reflected in the publicly available polls of the race. Both the Altman campaign and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released polls showing Altman down by two points, and more importantly, the nonpartisan Monmouth University Polling Institute also found an extremely close race.
But with Republicans gaining substantial ground in New Jersey this year, it was Kean who came out on top. The 7th district, which Joe Biden carried by just under 4 percentage points in 2020, may have voted for Donald Trump this year based on vote totals in fully reported counties – and with Altman doing worse than Kamala Harris in much of the district, her path to victory was closed off.
Altman, for her part, said tonight that she was not yet conceding the race, but that it was “likely” she would not emerge victorious. Nonetheless, she said she was proud of the race she ran.
“When Tom [Malinowski] lost the last time, it hurt, it was sad, it was frustrating,” Altman said. “But we got back up off the mat, and we mounted an incredible challenge in this race, one that we should be deeply proud of… New Jersey 7 is truly the most extraordinary place in the country, and we will find a way back to beat Tom Kean Jr. next time.”