Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski faces dimming prospects against Republican Thomas Kean Jr. in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District rematch

• Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski looks to retain his seat in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District against Republican Thomas Kean Jr.
• The state's 7th District covers all of Hunterdon County and sections of Warren, Morris, Somerset, Union, and Essex Counties as well.

Democratic incumbent Rep. Tom Malinowski faces off against Republican Thomas Kean Jr. in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District in a rematch of the 2020 election, where Malinowski defeated Kean by just over one percentage point.

New Jersey's 7th Congressional District candidates

This race is a rematch of 2020, when Malinowski defeated Kean by about 5,000 votes — or 1.2 percentage points. It ranked among the nation's closest House races.

Malinowski is finishing up his second term in office after first being elected in 2018.

Malinowski, who immigrated to the United States from Poland when he was a child, sits on the Committees on Foreign Affairs, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Homeland Security.

Prior to serving in Congress, Malinowski was the assistant secretary of State for democracy, human rights, and labor during the Obama administration. He's also previously worked as a senior director on the National Security Council and as chief advocate at nonprofit Human Rights Watch.

In March 2021, Insider revealed that Malinowski had failed to disclose dozens of personal stock trades in violation of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012.

While he ultimately placed his stock assets in a blind trust and backed an effort to ban federal lawmakers from trading stocks, Republicans have hammered Malinowski during the race for his disclosure failures. The independent Office of Congressional Ethics referred Malinowski's case to the bipartisan Committee on House Ethics, citing "substantial reason to believe" he violated federal conflicts-of-interest law, but to date, the Committee on House Ethics has not publicly ruled on the matter.

Kean is a former member of the New Jersey State Senate, where he was voted by his peers to become the state Senate minority leader.

Political service runs in Kean's family — he's the grandson of US Rep. Robert Kean and the son of former New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean, Sr.

Voting history for New Jersey's 7th Congressional District

The state's 7th District covers all of Hunterdon County and sections of Warren, Morris, Somerset, Union, and Essex Counties as well.

Joe Biden had a 10 percentage point margin of victory of President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election under the district's previous boundaries.

The money race

Federal records compiled by nonpartisan research organization OpenSecrets indicate Malinowski has raised $8.32 million, spent $6.75 million, and has $1.61 million cash on hand as of October 19.

Kean has raised $3.96 million, spent $3.2 million, and has $849,000 cash on hand as of October 19.

As of November 5, super PACs, national party committees, and other non-candidate groups had together spent about $8.3 million to advocate for or against the race's candidates, including during its primary election phase.

Here, Republicans have a major advantage: The Congressional Leadership Fund, a national Republican hybrid PAC that backs Kean, alone accounts for more than half that spending.

House Majority PAC, a Democratic hybrid PAC that supports Malinowski, is the second-highest spender at $1.38 million.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which backs Kean, has spent the third-most in the race — more than $1.35 million.

What experts say

The Cook Political Report rates New Jersey's 7th Congressional District race as "lean Republican". Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics rates the race as "leans Republican". Inside Elections rates it as "tilt Republican."