Isemann joins race to unseat Malinowski

John Henry Isemann, a 27-year-old Long Valley resident who left his Wall Street job to head up a humanitarian effort in Guatemala, today launched his bid for the Republican nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 7th district.

Isemann wants to challenge two-term Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) in a race that could help determine which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives mid-way through Joe Biden’s presidency.

“I got tired of wondering why we can’t find better candidates, so I decided to become that candidate,” he said.  “We need a generational change in Congress and a categorical shift in the character of our leaders.  Someone who’s not just worried about getting to Washington in 2022 but more worried about what a country looks like in 2052.”

The son of a minister and a school nurse, Isemann today launched his campaign with a 3 ½ minute that includes fierce criticism of Malinowski’s stock trades.

“In 2020, while launching a company and running a non-profit, I saw relatives catch Covid in nursing homes, community members fall victim to overdose and suicide,” Isemann says in the video.  “You know what out representatives saw?   They saw their fortunes rise by the millions on undisclosed healthcare trades during the pandemic and bet against the very people they were elected to represent.”

The son of a minister and a school nurse, Isemann says he’s spent the last ten years changing companies and building up communities around the world.

“I’m read to take those lessons and those experiences and do the same thing for our communities,” said Isemann.  “Across the country, from the top down, our representatives don’t represent us.  Our values don’t have a voice.  The conservative principles that built our backyards and our country have yet to find a champion in this generation.”

But first, Isemann will need to get by two other candidates in the Republican primary: Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) and former U.S. Food and Drug Administration official Rik Mehta, the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate in 2020.

After coming within 1% of ousting Malinowski in 2020, Kean has emerged as the clear front runner in his bid for a rematch in next year’s mid-term election.   He raised $630,00 in the first three months of his candidacy, won the early endorsement of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and has been placed at the top of a list of GOP congressional challengers by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Isemann also took an indirect shot at Kean in his launch video, saying that if “our founding values can’t be championed among the rising Millennial generation – our nation’s largest voting block – these values will be lost for generations.”

“We can change this, but we have to stop doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome – looking to the same tried and tired political dynasties and lobbyists – career politicians who have been climbing the ladders in Trenton and Washington while leaving New Jersey on the losing end, he said.

Isemann is the third young under-40 Republican to announce congressional runs in New Jersey this week.   Robert Healey, Jr., a 38-year-old businessman and yoga instructor from Burlington County, is taking on Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) in the 3rd district, and 36-year-old Nick DeGregorio, a U.S. Marine combat veteran and Wall Street trader, is taking on Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) in the 5th.