Two transit unions back Bennett in NJ-7 race

Two major transportation unions have endorsed Democrat Rebecca Bennett in her bid to unseat two-term Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) in New Jersey’s 7th district.

The Amalgamated Transit Union and the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers’ Transportation Division announced their support for Bennett, citing her positions on organized labor, the Gateway Tunnel project and improving rail service along the Raritan Valley Line.

“As a former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot and aircraft commander, Rebecca Bennett knows what it means to serve and lead,” said ATU International President John Costa, a New Jersey native. “A next-generation candidate, we will be mobilizing to send Rebecca Bennett to Congress in this key race to flip the House of Representatives in November.”

Bennett said she would seek additional federal funding for New Jersey’s transportation infrastructure.

“Union workers are the backbone of the Garden State, and I am ready to fight to invest in the people who keep our state moving,” Bennett said. “Together, we’ll focus on bringing home our federal tax dollars to make much-needed upgrades for our roads, buses and rail.”

SMART-TD National Safety and Legislative Director Jared Cassity said Bennett would work to complete the Gateway Tunnel and deliver a one-seat ride to New York for Raritan Valley Line commuters.

“She will also stand up against the attacks against collective bargaining to make sure that our rail workers here in New Jersey have a safe workplace, fair wages and the right to join a labor union,” Cassity said.

Raritan Valley Line riders currently must transfer in Newark during peak weekday commuting periods because the line is not fully electrified and its diesel locomotives cannot operate in the existing Hudson River tunnels.

The decades-long problem stems from an early 1960s deal between the governors of New Jersey and New York to purchase PATH and extend it to Newark Airport and Plainfield in exchange for the construction of the original World Trade Center.  But New Jersey never got its act together and the state’s share of the deal remains unfinished.

In 2023, the House passed the One Seat Ride Act, authored by Kean, that would order the Transportation Department to conduct a study on the feasibility of single-seat commuter rail trips, particularly on New Jersey’s Raritan Valley Line.

Currently, commuters on the Raritan Valley Line have to switch trains at Newark Penn Station in order to get to and from New York City, a headache for constituents of Kean and neighboring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing). Kean’s bill, which was co-sponsored by Watson Coleman, would get the federal government formally involved in finding a solution.

The bill died in the Senate.

Bennett said her experience commuting on NJ Transit gave her firsthand knowledge of the effect unreliable rail service has on families.

“I know firsthand how an unreliable train schedule makes it impossible to know if you’ll be back in time to pick up your kids from daycare, coach soccer or just make it home for dinner,” she said. “It’s long past time to bring a one-seat ride to New Jersey’s 7th district.”

Bennett, a former healthcare executive and mother of two, won the Democratic nomination to challenge Kean in one of New Jersey’s most closely watched congressional contests.

Kean won the seat in 2022 by defeating two-term Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) and won a second term in 2024.