New Jersey’s hottest congressional race remains a statistical tie between incumbent Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. and Democratic challenger Sue Altman.
Both sides worked feverishly to get out the vote Tuesday in the 7th Congressional District. Democrats fielded a highly organized Election Day ground game, energized by the perceived threat to abortion health care posed by a Trump presidency.
“So we are in the fourth quarter. This is so exciting. And I’m a former basketball player. I know that when you go into the fourth quarter tied, it’s going to be a dogfight,” Altman told supporters.
The 7th District has 19,000 more registered Republicans. Erin Covey, U.S. House of Representatives editor at the Cook Political Report, rates the contest as “leans Republican.” Covey said Altman “has a lot of energy and support behind her. But at the same time, the Republican super PACs have outspent the Democratic super PACs here pretty heavily. … I think at the end of the day, Kean is probably still favored.”
Kean, a first-term congressman, doesn’t post a campaign schedule and generally avoids speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill. Kean says he’s not anti-abortion; he did endorse former President Trump. During a recent debate, Kean said Altman “since 2019 has been a paid extreme political activist who supports progressive causes and will never stand up to the far left wing of her own party.”
Tom Malinowski, the former Democratic congressman who was defeated by Kean two years ago, said he thinks Altman has significant momentum against Kean. “I think her views are much more aligned, particularly on issues like abortion, with most of the voters in the district,” he said.
While the district may trend Republican, Ben Dworkin, director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship at Rowan University, said, “There is a potential in this district for significant crossover, but the question is really not just whether there’s going to be crossover of Republicans who might vote for Harris because they’re uncomfortable with Trump.” The main issue is whether they would then vote for down-ballot Democrats.
