7th district candidate Rebecca Bennett has overwhelmingly won the endorsement of local Democrats in Westfield, the hometown of two of her Democratic opponents – and of the GOP congressman they’re all ultimately trying to beat, Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (Westfield).
In a vote of the Westfield Democratic Committee that closed last night, Bennett earned 30 of 38 votes, or 79%. Michael Roth got five votes, Brian Varela got two, Megan O’Rourke got one, and Tina Shah and Beth Adubato each got zero; Roth and Shah are both Westfield residents, though both are originally from elsewhere in New Jersey.
“While each candidate brought real strengths to the race, Rebecca emerged as the consensus choice given her extraordinary record of service to this country, including as a combat veteran,” Westfield Democratic Chair Bruno Tedeschi said in a statement. “At a moment when our nation is again facing the realities of war, committee members felt her leadership, credibility and commitment to service would strongly resonate with voters across the district.”
The binding endorsement means that Bennett now has Tedeschi’s guaranteed vote when Union County Democrats meet to award their countywide endorsement on March 18. (Each of the 12 municipal chairs in the 7th district will get an equal vote in that process.)
More broadly, Westfield is among the largest and most important towns in any 7th district Democrat’s coalition; in the 2025 Democratic gubernatorial primary, for example, Westfield cast more votes than any other town in the district and made up just over 5% of its overall primary vote.
Democrats in another important 7th district town, Summit, gave Roth their support during a straw poll earlier this week, with Bennett coming in a relatively close second place. That outcome, however, will not bind Summit Democratic Chair Greg Vartan at the March 18 Union vote.
