The Democrats running for the nomination in New Jersey’s 7th congressional district met on the debate stage Tuesday night, discussing the economy, Israel, and the Republican incumbent in Rahway.
The debate, sponsored by the New Jersey Globe and Rider University, featured all four Democrats who will be on the primary ballot next month: former Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett, former Small Business Administration official Michael Roth, ICU physician Tina Shah, and businessman Brian Varela.
Looming over the campaign is the presumptive Republican nominee, incumbent Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield). Kean will remain absent from Congress this week as he recovers from an unspecified medical problem — he last voted in the House on March 5.
The Democrats criticized the vagueness of Kean’s absence, saying it follows a pattern of failing to communicate with voters in forums like town halls.
“We all wish [to] Congressman Kean that he’s okay and that he’s healthy, but at the end of the day, you’re a public servant, and while I don’t think you need to be putting out your own personal medical history out there, you, at the very least, have a responsibility to be communicating with your constituents and with your district,” Varela said.
And they said Kean has also failed to show up to support his district, even when healthy. Roth cited Roxbury’s GOP council, which criticized Kean for what they considered ineffective engagement as they sought to challenge the construction of an immigrant detention center in the town.
“He is absent now, but he has been absent way before when Union County needed him,” Roth said. “He was absent when there was flooding through our streets, absent when there was PFAS found in our water, absent when they’re trying to build a warehouse to warehouse people in this district. He is absent.”
Also top of mind for many 7th district Democratic voters is which candidate will have the best shot of defeating Kean come November. Bennett, considered the frontrunner by some, cited her military service as evidence that she can connect with voters across the aisle.
“I was in Somerville the other day, and somebody on the street overheard that I was a Navy pilot, and he stopped to tell me he’s going to vote for me,” Bennett said. “And I was like, ‘You might want to kick the tires a little bit before you vote for me.’ But that opens the door to having a conversation, and people get to know me, to get to know my values, and they have confidence that I’m going to make the right decision in the room when the door is closed.”
And Shah said she has learned how to quickly connect with people during her time as a doctor, which she believes translates into strong voter communication.
“I have 90 seconds to build trust, and if I can build the trust with the patient and their family, they tell me the clues so that I can make the diagnosis, and then we can figure out the treatment together,” Shah said. “That is the same approach I’ve taken, as I have gotten the opportunity to meet people in our community across the district.”
Roth said his time at the SBA has prepared him to discuss the economy with struggling families and business owners, which he thinks contrasts with Kean’s record.
“Tom Kean Jr. won this election on the economy,” Roth said. “He promised lower gas prices, lower energy bills, lower health care costs. How’d he do?”
And Varela pointed out that President Donald Trump succeeded with young, Hispanic males in 2024 — and that he is indeed a young, Hispanic male who can connect with such voters.
“I think that what we are seeing across the country has been a lack of energy within the Democratic Party, and the reason for that is that we can’t continue to nominate the same establishment-type Democrats,” Varela said. “These are Democrats that don’t understand what working-class and middle-class families are going through, and it’s time that we bring in an outsider.”
Among the four, Shah was the only candidate to say she would back House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries for speaker.
On Israel, the candidates were asked if they supported conditioning aid for the country.
“If we’re going to provide aid to countries, I don’t think it’s enough to just follow U.S. law and international law,” Varela said. “I would actually support providing additional conditions to make sure that we can further American interests and to make sure that the countries that we are helping are living in alignment with our values.”
Shah criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, arguing he’s caused a humanitarian crisis, but said the U.S. shouldn’t change its relationship with Israel solely because of one prime minister.
“There’s famine, there’s lack of access to basic medical care,” Shah said. “This is what Prime Minister Netanyahu has done. I don’t think that should change our relationship with the country because of one prime minister, and that’s why I don’t support conditioning aid. It’s time that the entire global community steps up so that we can get to a two-state solution as fast as possible.”
Roth said Israel has a right to exist and defend itself from attacks, but said aid to the country should be conditioned upon U.S. law, international law, and humanitarian law.
And Bennett, who said she worked with Israeli contractors while in the Navy, said Israel should be held to the same standards as other allies.
“What Netanyahu is doing is not in the best long-term interest of Israel, just like I don’t think what the Trump administration is doing is in the best long-term interest of the United States,” she said. “And so to me, the framework that I would use to evaluate this is that Israel needs to be held accountable to U.S. law, just like any other ally; there shouldn’t be a higher standard or a lower standard.”
On Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Roth said he wants to “defund and dismantle Trump’s ICE,” and reinstitute it under the U.S. Department of Justice, where other criminal justice agencies reside.
Varela, the son of Colombian immigrants, said he related to fears about ICE’s aggressiveness, and said Congress should look at dismantling the whole Department of Homeland Security.
“We hear these stories of parents being picked up and their kids being left there or being sent with scary men, and I will tell you that as a father, I will absolutely not stand for that, and that’s why I believe we need to dismantle Trump’s ICE,” he said. “Furthermore, I actually think we need to talk about dismantling DHS, because it is an organization that is way too large.”
And Bennett said local police officers say ICE makes their job harder with the public because of decaying trust.
“What I hear from them is that it makes their job harder because people are afraid to go to them and ask for help, and they spent decades building relationships in these communities, and people are scared to go to them now,” she said. “And so it’s about making sure that we are holding ICE accountable.”
To watch the full debate, click here.