Kean and Bennett Face Off in Sole Debate in New Jersey's 7th District

Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. and Democratic challenger Rebecca Bennett will meet Sunday night for the first and only debate of their closely contested race in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District.

Kean, a former state legislator seeking a third term, returned to Congress in June after an absence of about four months during which he missed more than 100 votes. He later disclosed that he had been hospitalized for depression, saying he is a private person by nature.

Bennett, a former Navy pilot and healthcare executive, is a political newcomer. She won a competitive primary in June and was widely seen as a more moderate and electable Democrat than some of her rivals.

The district, which includes President Donald Trump's Bedminster golf club, has flipped party control in each of the past two midterm elections, making it a magnet for campaign spending and a political barometer. Republicans are defending a narrow House majority amid Trump's deeply underwater approval ratings and rising gas prices tied to his war with Iran.

Millions of dollars have flowed into the race. Last week, a super PAC tied to the president indicated it would spend more than $3 million to help Kean, while a Democratic-aligned political action committee has set aside about $2.5 million for television ads in the New York market to aid Bennett and another Democrat in a New York district.

The district became slightly more Republican after redistricting following the 2020 census, but Democrats view it as a prime pickup opportunity. Kean won in 2022 by unseating Democrat Tom Malinowski, who had ousted Republican Leonard Lance in 2018.

Kean comes from a long line of public servants stretching 250 years to the country's founding, when an ancestor became New Jersey's first leader after independence. His great-grandfather was a senator, his grandfather a congressman and his father a two-term governor.