Democrat Rebecca Bennett has defeated incumbent Republican Tom Kean Jr. in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District.
The Associated Press called the race at 9:48 p.m. Unofficial results show Bennett with a lead of more than 20 percentage points over Kean.
After being introduced by her husband, Alex Hydrean, a beaming Bennett made her way to the podium and told the cheering crowd it will be an honor of a lifetime to represent them in the nation’s capital.
Bennett vowed to work to solve what she described as America’s cost of living crisis
“Tonight is about something bigger than any one of us,” she said. “It’s about all of us coming together to demand change and to leave this country better than we found it.”
Bennett said costs have risen because the Trump administration is the most corrupt in the nation’s history, but now it’s time for change.
“Let’s take on the rampant corruption in Washington, [D.C.], and start putting families first,” Bennett said. “That means banning members of Congress from trading stocks and getting dark money out of politics.”
She said change is never easy and real challenges lie ahead, “but I believe our best days as a nation are yet to come.”
Bennett said her job in the military was to be a test pilot, but now her job is to make things better for everyone.
“Tonight, we have sent a message that we are not giving up on this country that we love, we are getting to work,” she said.
She said the last 10 years have been heart-breaking for Americans who loved their country and the ideal on which it was found. But today, she said that brave New Jerseyans stood up for what is right.
“Something remarkable is happening here in New Jersey and across the country. And this is the moment we begin to turn the page on the Trump era,” she said, to raucous applause.
“This is the greatest country in the world. There is nothing we can’t achieve when we come together to solve our problems,” Bennett said.
The 7th District race has been closely watched for its potential impact on the fight for party control of the lower chamber of Congress.
Bennett, who served 15 years in the military as a Navy helicopter and experimental test pilot, campaigned on lowering the cost of living for New Jersey residents.
During the campaign, she said that, if elected, she would work to cut bureaucracy, increase affordable housing construction and restore the SALT deduction for Garden State taxpayers.
Kean, the son of former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean, disappeared for almost four months earlier this year, before delivering a short speech on the House floor disclosing that he had been treated for depression.
During a September debate with Kean, Bennett, who led military missions through the Strait of Hormuz, called for an end to the war in Iran and urged Congress to rein in President Donald Trump’s use of tariffs on imports. Kean defended Trump’s economic policies and said the Iran war was justified.
Bennett, a former health care industry executive, had never run for political office before.
According to the state Division of Elections, Republicans slightly outnumber Democrats in the 7th District, which covers all of Warren and Hunterdon counties, plus parts of Morris, Somerset, Sussex and Union counties.
