The four New Jersey Democrats vying for the nomination to take on Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. in November will all meet for their first official in-person debate on Tuesday night ahead of the June primary.
The list includes former Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett, businessman Brian Varela, former Biden administration official Michael Roth and Dr. Tina Shah.
With just weeks to go until early voting starts on May 26, the debate is one of their last chances to define themselves to voters against their fellow Democrats. The candidates will also have to balance their criticisms of Kean, whose undefined health issues have made him unable to travel to Washington to vote, let alone hit the campaign trail.
New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District is one of the more competitive races in the midterm cycle, according to political observers. The district includes wealthy and diverse suburban areas within commuting distance to New York City, and rural communities in the western reaches of the state.
The district’s boundaries were redrawn after the 2020 census, making it more Republican-friendly. In 2022, Kean took down Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski.
In the 2024 presidential election, however, Donald Trump only won the district by two points. And a year later, Democrat Mikie Sherrill won a majority of voters there on her way to victory in the governor’s race.
“This is considered by Democrats to be one of the most flippable districts in the country, and [in] the last couple weeks [it] has gotten a lot more flippable as Tom Kean has been off the campaign trail dealing with health issues,” said Dan Cassino, a political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
He and other political experts said they expect electability to dominate the debate.
Bennett has led in fundraising so far. Much of the district's Democratic establishment is backing her, though her campaign has pushed back on the idea that she is the “establishment candidate.”
“I think she sees herself as someone who has served this country, will stand up to Donald Trump down in D.C., will fight for affordability for families and is the strongest candidate to flip this district. I think that's why she's seen a lot of success,” said Daniel Bryan, a consultant with the Bennett campaign.
He said Bennett will use the debate to tell voters her personal story as a working mother “who understands the difficulties of balancing a budget” as families’ living costs get more expensive.
Two other candidates in the race are running to Bennett’s left, arguing their more progressive platforms are the way to defeat Kean.
Varela, who’s been endorsed by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, has made Medicare for All and a universal childcare plan that would cap childcare costs at $10 a day for families the centerpieces of his campaign.
Roth, who worked in President Joe Biden’s Small Business Administration, has aggressively touted his experience undoing the work of the first Trump administration.
“Michael is the only candidate in the field who has fought Trump's cruel policies and won,” Roth’s campaign manager, Hilary Caldwell, told Gothamist. “He reversed policies that excluded immigrant small business owners from receiving critical funding to keep their businesses afloat and he made sure that Planned Parenthood clinics got the funding that they were promised.”
Roth is the only candidate in the race who has criticized Kean for his recent public absence, noting Kean was still bringing in fundraising dollars even as he has missed votes in Congress.
“If he is well enough to raise campaign money, voters deserve to know when he will be back doing the job they elected him to do,” Roth told Gothamist.
Cassino said Democratic candidates will need to clearly articulate to voters during the debate how they can defeat Kean.
“[Kean’s] the most important person in this debate, and he's not there,” Cassino said.
But attacking Kean could prove difficult given his personal health challenges. Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, said he expects the candidates to try to tie Kean to Trump as much as possible.
“How much Kean has supported Trump in Congress, how much of a loyal vote he's been for Trump in Congress," Rasmussen said. "But it will not be personal. It will not be gratuitous. There will be a deference to his health."
Varela told Gothamist he and his opponents will be respectful, while also finding fault with Kean's record.
“There’s a lot of meat on the bone and I think we’ll be able to attack him without necessarily doing anything that I would say is undignified,” Varela said.
The 1-hour, 45-minute debate is sponsored by the New Jersey Globe. It will air live online at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
