Now that all 3rd quarter reports are in, the financial picture in New Jersey’s 7th district – potentially its most competitive House district in 2026, and certainly its most expensive so far – is becoming clearer.
The district’s Republican incumbent, Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), has long been a strong fundraiser, and this year has been no exception. Kean raised $666,973 during the 3rd quarter and has raised nearly $2.6 million over the course of this year; the congressman, who first got to office by defeating Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) in 2022, has an enormous $1,972,172 on-hand to defend himself.
That’s very tough for any challenger to match at this stage of the campaign, but the Democrat who’s come closest is former Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett, who’s raised nearly $1.4 million in total since her February campaign launch.
None of Bennett’s fundraising quarters have been astronomically big, but they’ve been remarkably consistent – $426,718 in Q1, $487,129 in Q2, $477,694 in Q3 – which is a good sign for her long-term viability. (It’s worth noting that she’s also been in the race the longest and has spent more far than anyone else in the Democratic field, at $468,784.)
By total amount raised, the next-best-funded Democrat is businessman Brian Varela, who raised $308,259 in Q3 and has raised just over $1 million since he entered the race in April. Those totals, however, were substantially bolstered by self-funding, and Varela has only raised around $400,000 from donors.
Perhaps better-positioned than Varela, then, is physician Tina Shah, who has only been in the race since July but who’s already raised $603,810 from donors, the largest single quarter (not including self-funding) of any candidate in the race thus far. A test for Shah will be whether she can replicate that kind of total in future quarters; it’s not uncommon for candidates to have an easier time fundraising early in the campaign, when they can hit up friends and family for money, and struggle later on.
Former Small Business Administration official Michael Roth is next, having raised $450,348 overall and $147,468 in the 3rd quarter. Climate scientist Megan O’Rourke, the most recent entrant to the race, has raised $247,168, but that only covers seven weeks of campaigning.
At the rear of the pack are former Summit Councilman Greg Vartan and criminal justice professor Beth Adubato. Vartan raised $30,531 in the 3rd quarter and has raised $187,552 since February, while Adubato raised $67,216 during her first quarter in the race, around $50,000 of which was self-funded.
One other contender, attorney Vale Mendoza, has not filed Q3 reports and said she’ll be late in doing so; the deadline to file was last night.
For the most part, none of the Democrats running against Kean will be using their money on things like TV ads anytime soon; that kind of spending likely won’t be happening until next fall, or possibly next spring if multiple well-funded Democratic candidates are still duking it out in the primary.
Instead, fundraising this early on is more of a proof of concept: showing Democratic voters in New Jersey, and party leaders in D.C., that they have the ability to raise the kind of money they’ll need to run competitive campaigns.
And the 7th district Democratic field is pulling in money far faster than their counterparts in prior election cycles. 2024 Democratic nominee Sue Altman had raised a little over $500,000 at this point in 2023, which was enough to give her a huge financial advantage over her primary opponents; in the 2018 midterms, Malinowski didn’t even enter the race until the beginning of Q4 2017.
