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.
2008 election 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.
2010 election In the 2010 general election, Democratic challenger Ed Potosnak challenged Lance. Still, Lance defeated Potosnak by a margin of 59% to 41%.
2012 redistricting and election All of New Jersey's congressional districts were redistricted after the 2010 census, with New Jersey losing one congressional seat, from 13 to 12 seats. The 7th district was made more favorable to Republicans in redistricting, losing all of Democratic leaning Middlesex County, while now including all of heavily Republican Hunterdon. Lance continued to win re-election comfortably over the next eight years. However, Democrat
Tom Malinowski flipped this seat in the
2018 election, then bringing the state's upcoming representation to 11 Democrats and 1 Republican. In the 2012 general election under this new configuration, Republican incumbent
Leonard Lance held his seat against Democratic challenger
Upendra J. Chivukula. For the 2012 election, both Ed Potosnak, who challenged Lance in the 2010 midterms, 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.
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. 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 and 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 Common 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 ==