New Jersey 7th Congressional District
The 2026 battle for control of the U.S. House of Representatives will come down to a handful of "toss-up" contests - including here in NJ7. The Democratic candidate will be chosen in the June 2 primary, and will run against incumbent Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. in the Nov. 3 election.
UPDATE: As of the March 23 deadline, four candidates had filed nominating petitions with the NJ Division of Elections to place their names on the ballot for the June 2 Democratic primary.
Details from New Jersey Globe: ​
NJ-7 Democratic field drops to four after O’Rourke, Adubato end campaigns
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Learn about the
Democratic candidates
Rebecca Bennett
Healthcare business owner, former Navy pilot.
Top priorities: Holding the current administration accountable; affordability; national security. (Read more)
Tina Shah
ICU physician, advisor to Obama & Biden admins.
Top Priorities: Affordability; access to high quality health care; repeal of Trump's costly tariffs. (Read more)
Michael Roth
Interim leader of SBA under President Biden
Top priorities: Tax changes to favor working- and middle-class, affordable housing, modern economy (Read more)
Brian Varela
Childcare business owner
Top priorities: Lowering costs for working families, protecting healthcare access, defending democracy. (Read more)
The candidates on the issues
Our partners at Indivisible Lambertville-New Hope sent an extensive questionnare to each of the Democratic candidates. The "Top Priorities" listed above were drawn from the candidates' answers to the first question, and the "Read more" links go to their full responses.
ILNH also assembled a panel of reviewers who assessed the answers and scored them in relation to the organization's core values. Find the scorecards here.
Learn about Republican
Rep. Tom Kean Junior
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Tom Kean Jr.
NJ7 representative since 2023. Strong supporter of President Trump, has Trump's endorsement for re-election. Served in NJ State Senate 2003-2022. His father is former Gov. Thomas Kean.
Learn about voting in the June 2 primary.
Details here
Videos: Candidate interviews and forums
OneNJ7 conducted interviews last Fall with the candidates for the Democratic nomination. We asked each a series of general questions about their campaigns and their top issues.
See them here and on our YouTube channel.
Rebecca Bennett
Tina Shah campaign
Michael Roth
Brian Varela
ILNH hosted an in-person debate on January 29, moderated by journalist Laura Jones. Watch here or on YouTube.