Kean claims victory in hotly contested NJ House race

He hung on to his seat – but just barely.

First-term Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. narrowly fended off Democratic challenger Sue Altman in New Jersey’s most contested U.S. House race in Tuesday’s election.

Kean declared victory and Altman conceded defeat late Tuesday night, although the Associated Press at 23.15 had not yet called the race.

Buoyed by national Republican funds, including from a PAC launched by former President Donald Trump’s billionaire supporter Elon Musk, Kean won a second term in the politically purple 7th Congressional District.

In doing so, he fended off Altman’s aggressive grassroots campaign, which painted him as a press-shy Trump supporter thinly disguised as a moderate.

Kean’s campaign, meanwhile, portrayed Altman as a “radical” in a constant drumbeat of ads that repeatedly hammered her progressive bona fides, including earlier remarks she made about defunding the police, for which she has since apologized.

At 10:36 p.m., Kean burst into the ballroom of the Old Mill Inn in Basking Ridge at his watch party and announced, “We won!”

A crowd of hundreds cheered him on as Kean spoke of the urgent need to address inflation and affordability by cutting “wasteful government spending.”

He also said the country must work to secure the southern border, fight human trafficking and stand with its allies, including Israel and Ukraine.

“It is vital to the future of this world,” Kean said, supporting the two nations involved in various wars. “America must continue to be a beacon of freedom and democracy worldwide.”

Kean thanked Altman for running a “spirited campaign” as his father, former Gov. Thomas Kean, stood nearby beaming with a bouquet of flowers in his hands.

Kean’s victory was important for Republicans trying to hold on to their majority in the lower house of Congress amid a tough campaign season and polarizing presidential race.

Mirroring the national debate, Altman made reproductive rights and a threat to democracy the central themes of her campaign.

When Kean started winning around 10.20 p.m., attendees at Altman’s watch party at Bridgewater Manor in Bridgewater began to quietly leave.

And at 10:48 p.m., Altman signed off on the race, saying that many Americans have had their “hearts broken our way by this wonderful beautiful country.”

“This indecisive country, this divisive country, this polarized country — this country with its deeply flawed history against racism and sexism, but also with its incredible hope — it’s a beacon for others around the world,” she said.

Altman also emphasized progressive victories in the state this year, including the elimination of the state’s decades-old primary ballot design, known as the “county line,” and the impeachment of former Sen. Robert Menendez.

Rep. Andy Kim won his election Tuesday night to claim the seat once held by Menendez, becoming the first U.S. senator of Korean descent from any state.

“We accomplished an incredible challenge in this race, one that we should be extremely proud of,” Altman said. “We’ve turned a page in New Jersey because it’s not business as usual anymore, we picked Andy Kim tonight.”

The race drew national attention as both parties battled for control of the House of Representatives, currently held by Republicans.

It was also a revealing jersey look into the deeply divisive political drama unfolding across the country, with a white-knuckle presidential race and other tense battles raging for control of Congress.

Kean, the Republican incumbent, portrayed himself as a moderate who still supports Trump. For him, the issues of the swing district were clear: economy and crime.

He is the former Republican leader of the state senate and, as the son of Tom Kean – a hugely popular former governor of New Jersey – he had the invaluable advantage of name recognition.

But his campaign also received unwanted attention. Kean had been accused of dodging both the press and his constituents, including one recent refusal to speak with a NJ Spotlight reporter. Video of him refusing to answer multiple questions while in an elevator and hallways of the US Capitol went viral.

Kean’s campaign subsequently granted interviews with him to several news outlets, including NJ Advance Media.

Altman is a longtime leader of the progressive advocacy group New Jersey Working Families Alliance and a former teacher and basketball star at Columbia University. Some remember her most for being pulled out of a 2019 Statehouse hearing on tax incentives by police after she and others protested an expected appearance by Democratic power broker George Norcross.

Altman ran an aggressive grassroots campaign, positioning himself as the opposite of Kean’s reticence by seeking across the district. She also hammered him on reproductive rights, including abortion and IVF, making the threat to democracy a central theme of her campaign.

At the last minute — and after some criticism from progressives — the House Democrats’ campaign fund committed to spending about $4 million in the final two weeks of choice to boost her.

Meanwhile, Kean raised about $5.4 million this cycle, according to the research group OpenSecrets. National Republican groups poured huge funds into the race on his behalf, with GOP groups distributing about $7.7 million only on advertising.

Musk’s PAC also spent money to ensure Kean and other Republicans were afloat with funds to get out of the ballot effort.

When Altman launched his campaign last year, Democrats privately questioned whether the fiery advocate was too progressive for the purple district. She told NJ Advance Media that the issue has not come up and that her views are largely the same as the Democratic Party’s.

The site of the house has bounced back and forth between the parties. For years, Republicans held it. But in 2018, Tom Malinowski, a Democrat, ran for the open seat and won, turning it blue. Kean challenged him two years later but lost a close race.

The two met again in 2022, with Kean winning and bringing it back to the GOP after redistricting made it redder for him.

Democrats aimed to flip the district’s color again, hoping they would be boosted by the ever-polarizing Trump at the top of the Republican ticket.

Registered Republicans in the 7th District outnumber registered Democrats by fewer than 20,000 voters, but still outnumbering unaffiliated voters in the district, which is more than 222,000, according to enter voter registration data.

The 7th District has a little bit of everything: rural Warren and Sussex counties, including more than two dozen Republican-leaning cities added in 2022; solid blue Union County cities like Rahway and Linden; and large swaths of affluent suburbs across several counties, where voters from both parties may not be so friendly to Trump.

NJ Advance Media Staff Writers Jelani Gibson and Susan K. Livio contributed to this report.

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Brianna Kudisch can be reached at [email protected].