New Jersey's 7th congressional district

History

In the 2012 general election, Republican incumbent Leonard Lance held his seat against Democratic challenger Upendra J. Chivukula. In the 2010 general election, Democratic challenger Ed Potosnak challenged Lance, but Lance defeated Potosnak by a margin of 59% to 41%. For the 2012 election, both Potosnak and former Edison Mayor Jun Choi announced their candidacies for the Democratic nomination. Choi dropped out of the race in December 2011 after redistricting left his Edison home outside the 7th District. Potosnak dropped out of the race in January 2012 to take a position as executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, leaving a momentarily empty field for the Democratic nomination.

Effect of 2000 redistricting

New Jersey's 7th district and the 12th district were redistricted after the 2000 census by a bipartisan panel. By consensus of the panel, the Democratic and Republican parties agreed to trade areas in the two districts to make them safer for their respective incumbents. It is likely that this tradeoff, which made New Jersey's 7th less competitive for Democrats, had an effect on the outcome of 2006 election, which was decided by approximately 3,000 votes. Areas of the former 7th district such as Franklin Township that had historically voted reliably Democratic were moved into the adjacent 12th district in order to shore up Democratic incumbent Rush Holt, while reliably Republican Millburn was removed from the 7th, and instead split between the 10th and 11th districts. Additionally, heavily Democratic Plainfield was moved from the 7th to the already Democratic-leaning 6th district. Despite the redistricting, NJ-07 was still the most competitive House district in New Jersey, and was the only one considered to be in play in 2006 by political pundits.

In 2008, Mike Ferguson (who had first been elected in 2000, replacing Bob Franks) did not seek another term. Linda Stender won the Democratic nomination unopposed, while Republican primary voters chose State Senator Leonard Lance in a field of eight candidates. In the general election, Lance defeated Assemblywoman Linda Stender by a margin of 25,833 votes.

2018 election

In the Democratic primary Malinowski prevailed with 26,059 votes and 66.8% of the vote. Jacob finished second with 7,467 votes and 19.1% of the vote.

Lance won the Republican primary with 74.9%, and 24,856 votes.

In the 2018 election, Tom Malinowski, former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, was considered the front runner among the Democrats challenging Republican incumbent Leonard Lance. Malinowski was endorsed by Westfield teacher/attorney Lisa Mandelblatt and attorney Scott Salmon when they withdrew from the race in February 2018. Other candidates in the Democratic primary included lawyer Goutam Jois; and social worker Peter Jacob, who was defeated by Lance in the 2016 election. Green Party of New Jersey member Diane Moxley also announced her intent to run for the seat. Lindsay Brown, a product manager at the New York Post and a self-described progressive, ran in the Republican primary against Lance. Berkeley Heights banking executive Linda Weber and environmental advocate David Pringle withdrew in March 2018.

During the fourth quarter of 2017, the Malinowski campaign raised $528,000 while the incumbent Lance raised $237,000. Jois raised $189,000 and Jacob raised $29,000.

Malinowski won the seat in the election with 51.7% of the votes.

2020 election

Incumbent Tom Malinowski (D) ran in the Democratic party primary uncontested, winning 100% (80,334) of the vote. Challenger Thomas Kean Jr. (R) defeated Raafat Barsoom and Tom Phillips in the Republican party primary receiving 79.4% (45,395) of the vote.

Incumbent Tom Malinowski (D) defeated challenger Thomas Kean Jr. (R) in the general election by 1.2 percentage points for New Jersey's 7th Congressional District on November 3, 2020. The race was expected to be competitive, with New Jersey's 7th being one of 40 seats gained by Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections.

2022 redistricting and election

The New Jersey Congressional Redistricting Commission altered the boundaries of the district effective January 6, 2022. https://www.njredistrictingcommission.org/adoption2022map.asp Although the district remains competitive, the district is more Republican than it was previously.

Incumbent Tom Malinowski (D) faced 2020 challenger Thomas Kean Jr. once again in 2022. In the general election held on November 8, 2022, Kean prevailed, unseating Malinowski. It was one of 18 districts that would have voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election had they existed in their current configuration while being won or held by a Republican in 2022.

2024 election

Incumbent Republican representative Thomas Kean Jr. ran in the Republican party primary and won with 78.2% (37,623) of the vote. Democratic Challenger Sue Altman ran uncontested in the Democratic primary winning 100% (38,030) of the vote.

Incumbent representative Thomas Kean Jr. (R) defeated challenger Sue Altman (D) in the general election by 5.4 percentage points for New Jersey's 7th Congressional District on November 5, 2024. The race was expected to be somewhat competitive, with New Jersey's 7th being one of 9 seats that Republicans gained in the United States House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections.

2026 midterm election

Democratic candidates who have announced or are considering a run in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District include Rebecca Bennett, a health care technology executive, former United States Navy aviator; Michael Roth, a small business consultant and former Small Business Administration administrator in the Biden administration; Brian Varela, a small business owner; and Greg Vartan, a former Summit Council President and current chair of the Summit Democrats, and Megan O'Rourke, an ecologist and former USDA and USAID official, and Beth Adubato, a professor of Criminal Justice.

Composition

For the 118th and successive Congresses (based on redistricting following the 2020 census), the district contains all or portions of six counties and 93 municipalities.

Hunterdon County (24): :All 24 municipalities

Morris County (12): :Chester Borough, Chester Township, Long Hill Township, Mendham Borough, Mendham Township (part; also 11th), Mine Hill Township, Mount Arlington, Mount Olive Township, Netcong, Roxbury, Washington Township, Wharton

Somerset County (13): :Bedminster, Bernards Township, Bernardsville, Branchburg, Bridgewater Township (part; also 12th; includes Bradley Gardens, Bridgewater Center, Green Knoll, Martinsville, and part of Finderne), Far Hills, Green Brook Township, Hillsborough Township (part; also 12th; includes Neshanic and part of Belle Mead and Flagtown), Peapack-Gladstone, Raritan, Somerville, Warren Township, Watchung

Sussex County (10): :Andover Borough, Byram Township, Fredon Township, Green Township, Hopatcong, Ogdensburg, Sparta, Stanhope, Stillwater Township, Walpack Township

Union County (12): :Berkeley Heights, Clark, Fanwood, Linden (part; also 10th), Mountainside, New Providence, Rahway, Scotch Plains, Springfield Township, Summit, Westfield, Winfield Township

Warren County (22): :All 22 municipalities

Recent election results from statewide races

Recent election results

List of members representing the district

References

Bibliography

• Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present

References

1. Center for New Media & Promotion (CNMP), US Census Bureau. "My Congressional District".
2. "2025 Cook PVI℠: District Map and List (119th Congress)".
3. "After the Midterms, One Party Controls All the Wealthiest Congressional Districts".
4. Kaptur, Marcy. (October 15, 2021). "U.S. Median Household Income Per Congressional District for 117th Congress".
5. Salvador Rizzo, ''The Star-Ledger''. "N.J. 7th Congressional District winner: Leonard Lance". NJ.com.
6. "Potosnak files 2012 bid for US Congress in NJ's 7th Congressional District".
7. Max Pizarro. (May 5, 2011). "Choi announces 7th District Congressional candidacy {{pipe}} Observer". Politickernj.com.
8. Max Pizarro. (January 16, 2012). "Potosnak ends CD 7 run to take job as ED of League of Conservation Voters {{pipe}} Observer". Politickernj.com.
9. "Local and National Election Results - Election Center 2008 - Elections & Politics from CNN.com". CNN.
10. New York Times, [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/05/us/elections/results-new-jersey-primary-elections.html Primary results], accessed, June 6, 2018 {{Webarchive. link. (June 7, 2018)
11. Almukhtar, Sarah. "New Jersey Primary Election Results".
12. The Hill, Ben Kamisar, October 2, 2017, [https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/353408-obama-state-department-official-to-run-for-house-in-nj/ Obama State Department official to run for House in NJ], Retrieved October 2, 2017
13. (March 11, 2018). "CD7 Flashpoint: Malinowski Beats Weber in Union". Insider NJ.
14. Ballotpedia, [https://ballotpedia.org/New_Jersey%27s_7th_Congressional_District_election,_2018 New Jersey's 7th Congressional District election, 2018] {{Webarchive. link. (December 29, 2020 , Retrieved May 7, 2018)
15. Salant, Jonathan D.. (February 8, 2018). "Democrat drops run against Republican Leonard Lance".
16. "Democrats are now lining up behind this candidate to take on Republican Leonard Lance". NJ.com.
17. "Goutam Jois for Congress NJ-07".
18. [http://moxleyforus.com/ Moxley For US] {{Webarchive. link. (December 29, 2020 (website))
19. link. (December 29, 2020 , Retrieved May 17, 2018)
20. Jonathan D. Salant, May 14, 2017, NJ.com, [http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/05/meet_the_newest_challenger_to_njs_lance.html#incart_river_home Meet the newest challenger to N.J.'s Leonard Lance], Retrieved May 14, 2017
21. (March 26, 2018). "Pringle Exits the CD7 Contest - Insider NJ".
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25. "New Jersey's 7th Congressional District election, 2024".
26. [https://www.njredistrictingcommission.org/documents/2021/Data2021/Plan%20Components.pdf], [[New Jersey Redistricting Commission]], December 23, 2021. Accessed November 5, 2022.
27. "DRA 2020".
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29. Fox, Joey. (2024-11-08). "Trump seems to have won the swingy 7th district – and Tom Kean Jr. did even better".
30. "Candidates for House of Representatives". Division of Elections.
31. (2014). "Official results".
32. "Candidates for House of Representatives". Division of Elections.
33. "New Jersey's 7th Congressional District election, 2016".
34. (October 14, 2021). "Official List, Candidates for House of Representatives For GENERAL ELECTION 11/03/2020 Election".
35. "2022 Official General Election Results: U.S. House of Representatives".
36. [https://clerk.house.gov/members/M001203 Tom Malinowski], [[Clerk of the United States House of Representatives]]. Accessed October 9, 2022. "Hometown: Rocky Hill"