Former Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett emerged victorious Tuesday in the Democratic primary in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, which is represented by mysteriously absent GOP Rep. Tom Kean.
Bennett, 37, topped three other Democratic candidates to win the nomination for a seat that the party views as one of its best pickup opportunities in the Nov. 3 midterms.
“NJ-07 deserves a representative who actually shows up for every family,” Bennett wrote in a Substack post on the eve of election night.
“If I have the honor of representing this district, I want you all to know that I will wake up every day and work harder than I have ever worked, in my entire life, to fight for you and your family as hard as I fight for my own kids. We are carrying this fight to November. I’m ready, and I know you are too.”
Bennett, who served in the armed forces for more than 15 years as a helicopter pilot, experimental test pilot, aircraft commander and member of the Air National Guard, was the heavy favorite heading into the election – with several polls showing her with double-digit leads over her rivals.
“I’ve fought for and defended this country before, and I’m ready to do it again,” Bennett said in a recent TV ad, which touts her as “the only Democrat who can stop Donald Trump.”
Bennett, a graduate of Cornell and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, raised more than $2.6 million for her primary campaign, outpacing all her Democratic competitors.
Bennett has made the rising cost of living her main issue on the campaign trail and has pledged to work to undo Trump’s tax cuts as a means of addressing affordability concerns.
Voters in the expansive 7th District, which included Trump’s Bedminster country club, went for the president over former Vice President Kamala Harris by two percentage points in the 2024 presidential election – but backed Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill over Republican Jack Ciattarelli by the same margin in last year’s gubernatorial race.
Kean, who has not cast a vote in Congress since March 5, was running unopposed in the GOP primary for the district, which is rated a “toss-up” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
In late April, the GOP congressman claimed in a social media post that he was dealing with a “personal medical issue.”
Late last month, in an interview with the New Jersey Globe, Kean declined to elaborate on the specific ailment he’s dealing with but said he’d be back in Congress and campaigning “in the next couple of weeks.”
“My doctors are confident that I’m on the road to a full recovery,” the New Jersey Republican said. “I understand the need for public transparency, and I appreciate the support of my constituents.
“I anticipate that in the next couple of weeks, I’ll return to voting and to the campaign trail.”
Asked about Kean’s absence, Bennett told NBC News last month that “I certainly wish him well, and I hope he has a speedy recovery. I do think looking at his record, he has absolutely failed this district”
“If I was our member of Congress,” she added, “I would certainly be more transparent about what’s going on.”