Tom Kean Jr Wins GOP Congressional Primary in NJ, Menendez Jr Wins Dem House Primary

Tom Kean Jr Wins GOP Congressional Primary in NJ, Menendez Jr Wins Dem House Primary

Edited by: Fern Sidman

New Jersey voters headed for the polls on Tuesday as they cast their votes in a congressional primary. The winner in the Republican race was former state Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean Jr. and on the Democratic side, Rep. Tom Malinowski won as well, according to projections by the Associated Press.

The New York Times reported that Tom Kean Jr., the son of the popular two-term New Jersey governor, Tom H. Kean beat six Republican opponents Tuesday to win the nomination. He will now compete against Representative Tom Malinowski in the November general election. The Times reported that Malinowski is an embattled Democrat accused of ethical lapses. The report indicates that this particular race is shaping up to be the state’s most competitive midterm contest.

Running against Kean for the Republican nomination were State Assemblyman Eric Peterson of Hunterdon County and pastor Phil Rizzo who had ran unsuccessfully for governor in last year’s GOP primary, according to a report on NJ.com.

When the AP declared the winner of the race at approximately 10:30 pm on Tuesday, Kean had garnered nearly 19,000 votes — or about 45% of the vote. NJ.com reported that he was followed by Rizzo with more than 9,000 votes and Peterson with more than 7,000.

The NYT reported that another son of a storied New Jersey political family, Robert Menendez Jr., easily won a Democratic House primary, making it likely that he and his father and namesake, the state’s senior senator, will serve together in the Capitol.

NJ.com reported that Malinowski beat perennial candidate Roger Bacon to take the Democratic nomination Tuesday.

After being declared the winner of his race on Tuesday, Malinowski told NJ PBS, “It’s going to be another close race, and in New Jersey this year, this is the race (to watch). All eyes are going to be on our district. I’m just glad that the Democratic party is completely unified.”

Malinowski, 56, in a swipe at Kean’s three unsuccessful campaigns for Congress, said: “I want to do this job. He just wants to have this job,” according to the NYT report.

NJ.com reported that Malinowski, who ousted Republican Rep. Leonard Lance in 2018 as part of that year’s Democratic wave, hammered the GOP and Kean on abortion rights after a draft Supreme Court decision indicated that the Republican-appointed majority was prepared to overrule Roe v. Wade.

The NYT reported that Malinowski is facing allegations that he failed to report stock trades as required. He is also running in a district that gained more Republican-leaning towns when the borders were redrawn to reflect demographic changes in the 2020 census.

NJ.com reported that the Office of Congressional Ethics, which found that Malinowski violated the law requiring timely disclosure, also reported that Malinowski did not direct any of those trades. Since then, he has put his financial holdings in a blind trust.

Malinowski said Tuesday night he wishes “this was a race about issues,” especially “how to fix the economy,” as was reported by NJ.com.

”Unfortunately, what I think we’re going to get from the other side is just a lot of dumb attack ads,” he said.

In a statement on Tuesday night, Kean said that he is “fully committed to flipping this seat in November.”

NJ.com reported that Kean said, “New Jersey needs a leader with a clear vision and the right experience to make a difference. I am committed to taking on Washington’s out-of-control spending and delivering the honest public service that the people of this district deserve. Tom Malinowski has presided over crisis after crisis that have taken a serious toll on New Jersey. He will deny, deflect and play dumb in one final, failed attempt to save his own political career, but make no mistake — he owns his record.”

Also in a statement on Tuesday night, NJ.com reported that NRCC Chairman Tom Emmer said that Kean is “a common-sense conservative who is ready to get to work for a district that is hurting from Tom Malinowski’s failed leadership.”

The NYT reported that Kean’s primary opponents had challenged him from the right as they competed for the support of conservative Republican voters aligned with former President Trump. The Times also reported that outside a school near Mr. Kean’s home in Westfield, N.J., where he voted on Tuesday with his wife and daughters, a sign parroting one of Mr. Trump’s favorite labels read, “Warning RINO alert.”