Where do N.J.’s members of Congress stand on the 2024 presidential race?

With the first Republican presidential debate only a few weeks away, the 2024 presidential campaign season is upon us, like it or not.

So far, of New Jersey’s three Republican members of Congress, only one has made an endorsement in the presidential race: Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), who is backing former President Donald Trump. Van Drew – who famously switched parties in 2019 after refusing to support Trump’s first impeachment – told the New Jersey Globe last November that he still believes Trump is the best man for the job.

“I’m a loyal guy,” Van Drew said. “He did a great job. I want to have a president who will do something about inflation, about crime, and support the police.”

Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), on the other hand, has not made an endorsement, and declined to comment on whether he would eventually do so. The 2024 election presents a tricky needle for Kean to thread, since embracing Trump might cause him issues in his highly competitive district – but if Trump becomes the nominee, Kean will have to share a ballot with him anyways.

Kean was presented with a similar challenge during his first congressional bid in 2020; that year, he said during a debate that he’d be “supporting the president” but otherwise tried to distance himself from Trump when possible. Back in the 2016 campaign, Kean supported former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is running again this year.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester), too, has not yet endorsed anyone for president this cycle. Smith has never been a staunch Trump supporter, though back in 2020, he did participate in a 2,000-boat parade in support of Trump’s re-election campaign.

(Smith’s relative moderation earned him a serious primary challenge last year from pro-Trump podcast host Mike Crispi – but notably, even though several of Trump’s surrogates endorsed Crispi, the former president himself didn’t weigh in against Smith.)

There’s far less intrigue in the Democratic primary, where President Joe Biden faces only Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson, neither of whom are viewed as especially serious threats.

The New Jersey Globe confirmed that ten of the 11 Democrats representing New Jersey in Congress are officially supporting Biden for re-election. Senator Cory Booker and Reps. Donald Norcross (D-Camden), Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff), Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City), Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson), Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark), Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) are all firmly on Team Biden.

The one exception? Senator Bob Menendez, who declined to commit his support for Biden – though the chances he backs anyone else for the presidency seem vanishingly slim.

For Booker, his support goes beyond just an endorsement. Alongside Gov. Phil Murphy, Booker is a member of Biden’s National Advisory Board, a 50-member panel that was formed when Biden launched his re-election campaign in May.

Booker, of course, ran for the presidency himself in 2020, going up against none other than Joe Biden in the Democratic primary. After failing to gain traction, Booker ultimately dropped out in January 2020 – before any votes had been cast – and endorsed Biden two months later, once the contest had come down to Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont).

Right at the start of his 2020 campaign, Booker unveiled endorsements from every single Democrat in the state’s congressional delegation, including then-Democrat Van Drew. Murphy and a huge number of other New Jersey Democrats also joined Team Booker, representing an initial show of force from the senator’s home state.

But once Booker dropped out, his endorsers splintered. Gottheimer and Sherrill both flocked to former New York City Michael Bloomberg; Kim went for former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, his friend from their Rhodes Scholar days; and Payne and then-Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) endorsed Biden. Eventually, as the field winnowed further, nearly every New Jersey Democrat coalesced behind Biden.