NJ Primary Elections 2020: District 7 – NJ Spotlight

New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District includes Hunterdon County and portions of Essex, Somerset, Morris, Union, and Warren counties. It was one of the four districts that Democrats flipped in the 2018 “blue wave” in the state.

Formerly a Republican stronghold, voters there are now evenly split between registered Democrats and Republicans, at about 30% each. Unaffiliated voters are still the plurality at about 39%. Both national parties have targeted the race, with Democrats working to hold the seat and the GOP trying to retake it.

Median household income in the 7th is the second-highest in the state — almost $119,000 — and the district is the second most-educated as well, with more than 55% of those age 25 and over holding at least a bachelor’s degree.

Freshman incumbent Tom Malinowski was able to capitalize on a progressive wave in 2018 to knock off the Republican incumbent by 5 percentage points. Malinowski has no Democratic opponent in the primary

Three Republicans are vying to oppose Malinowski in November: state Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean Jr., Raafat Barsoom, and Tom Phillips.

CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES

TOM MALINOWSKI: DEMOCRAT (incumbent)

In his first term in Congress, Malinowski was former assistant secretary of state under President Barack Obama. He was born in Poland and came to the United States at age six, settling with family in Princeton. Malinowski was a Rhodes Scholar and Washington director for Human Rights Watch prior to joining the Obama administration.

Malinowski is considered a moderate Democrat and has defended the Affordable Care Act, voted to provide $1.1 trillion in direct relief to state and local governments, and has been pushing to restore the deduction for state and local taxes on federal income taxes.

The father of one daughter, Malinowski lives in Ringoes. Follow this link for more information.

TOM KEAN JR: REPUBLICAN

The highest-ranking Republican in the state Legislature, Kean is the latest in his family’s long line to hold elected office. His father is the former governor and his grandfather a former congressman, and he can trace his roots to both Peter Stuyvesant and New Jersey’s first governor, William Livingston. He was first elected to the state Assembly in 2001 and has served in the state Senate since 2003, where he has been GOP leader since 2008. Kean also worked as a special assistant in the federal Environmental Protection Agency in the George H.W. Bush administration.

Kean has not presented specific positions on his campaign website, which provides only one paragraph that states he supports “strong borders, clean energy and innovative economic policies.” Kean has been supportive of President Trump, attending a rally in Wildwood in January. His website boasts endorsements from dozens of establishment Republicans.

Kean holds a master’s degree in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Westfield. This is his third attempt at federal office. Follow this link for more information.

RAAFAT BARSOOM: REPUBLICAN

An Egyptian immigrant, Barsoom is an emergency and trauma doctor at Hunterdon Medical Center who said he fled Cairo due to religious persecution and had to rebuild his life in the United States.

Barsoom is an unabashed conservative who boasts of his support for Trump and his policies. His campaign website states he is seeking to restructure education to include traditional family values, will fight to get military support to prevent the trafficking of illegal drugs across the borders, and supports reforming malpractice laws to prevent any suit from going to court before first being approved by a medical committee.

This is the second run for office by Barsoom, who lives in Annandale and has a daughter. He lost the GOP congressional primary in 2018. Follow this link for more information.

TOM PHILLIPS: REPUBLICAN

A human resources executive and adjunct graduate school instructor in finance and business strategy, Phillips is making his first bid for federal office. He holds master’s degrees from Rutgers and New York University.

Phillips says he is running to “help bring common sense back to government” and stresses that he is a “regular American” and not a millionaire or career public servant. He supports replacing guaranteed Social Security payments for younger workers with 401K-style savings plans to reduce costs, and making the 2017 tax cuts permanent. He also supports increasing the federal income tax cap on state and local income tax deductions and annually increasing child tax credits to keep pace with inflation. He is pro-life.

Phillips is married with three sons and lives in Scotch Plains. Follow this link for more information.