New Jersey's 7th Congressional District election, 2026 (June 2 Democratic primary)

	← 2024
New Jersey's 7th Congressional District
	Democratic primary; Republican primary; General election
Election details
	Filing deadline: March 23, 2026
	Primary: June 2, 2026; General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
	Poll times: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Voting in New Jersey
Race ratings
	Cook Political Report: Toss-up; DDHQ and The Hill: Pending; Inside Elections: Tilt Republican; Sabato's Crystal Ball: Toss-up
Ballotpedia analysis
	U.S. Senate battlegrounds; U.S. House battlegrounds; Federal and state primary competitiveness; Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
	New Jersey's 7th Congressional District; U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th; New Jersey elections, 2026; U.S. Congress elections, 2026; U.S. Senate elections, 2026; U.S. House elections, 2026; Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House raceArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House raceFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House raceOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House raceTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House raceVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House raceSubmit

New Jersey 2026 elections

U.S. Senate • U.S. House • Congressional special elections • School boards • Municipal • How to run for office

Six candidates are running in the Democratic primary for New Jersey's 7th Congressional District on June 2, 2026.

Bucks County Herald's Kathryn Loveless wrote that Democrats in the District "are hoping the right candidate can flip their seat away from Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr."^[1]

Four candidates have led in media attention and fundraising:

Rebecca Bennett (D) is a healthcare business owner and former Navy pilot.^[2] She is campaigning on her Navy background and on lowering costs.^[3]^[4]
Michael Roth (D) is a former interim leader of the Small Business Administration under Joe Biden (D).^[5] He is campaigning on changing the tax code to increase taxes on wealthy Americans and bringing federal benefits to the district.^[6]
Tina Shah (D) is a physician and former advisor under the Barack Obama (D) and Biden (D) administrations.^[7] She is campaigning on her professional experience and on lowering healthcare costs.^[8]^[1]
Brian Varela (D) is a business owner and chair of the Morris County Democratic Party Hispanic Caucus.^[9] He is campaigning to limit campaign spending during elections and support Medicare for All.^[10]^[11]

To read more about each candidate's policies, click here.

The New Jersey Globe's Zach Blackburn wrote that the general election "is expected to be one of the country’s premier congressional races this fall, and Gov. Mikie Sherrill won the 7th’s towns by slightly less than 2 percentage points during her landslide victory last year."^[12] In the past, the district voted for Donald Trump by six points in 2016, for Joe Biden by four points in 2020, and for Trump again by one point in 2024.^[13]

Each candidate has campaigned on electability, saying they are the best equipped to win the general election. Bennett points to her military experience and says voters who typically do not support Democrats may be more open to backing her.^[14] Roth says he was successful in delivering federal funds at the Small Business Administration and will be able to contrast his record with Kean's.^[11] Shah says, as a doctor, she has treated people regardless of political views, and that she would take the same approach to meeting voters.^[15] Varela says as a young Hispanic man, he could win back those groups, whom he says Donald Trump (R) performed well with in 2024.^[16]

Michael Garth (D), and Felipe Santos (D) are also running.

This page focuses on New Jersey's 7th Congressional District Democratic primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Republican primary and the general election, see the following pages:

Candidates and election results

Democratic primary

Democratic primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 7

Rebecca Bennett (D), Michael Roth (D), Tina Shah (D), and Brian Varela (D) are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 7 on June 2, 2026.

		Candidate
		Rebecca Bennett
		Michael Roth
		Tina Shah
		Brian Varela

	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Voting information

See also: Voting in New Jersey

Election information in New Jersey: June 2, 2026, election.

What is the voter registration deadline?

In-person: May 12, 2026
By mail: Postmarked by May 12, 2026
Online: May 12, 2026

Is absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

N/A

What is the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

In-person: June 1, 2026
By mail: Received by May 26, 2026
Online: May 26, 2026

What is the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

In-person: June 2, 2026
By mail: Postmarked by June 2, 2026

Is early voting available to all voters?

Yes

What are the early voting start and end dates?

May 26, 2026 to May 31, 2026

Are all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, is a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When are polls open on Election Day?

6:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. (ET)

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Rebecca Bennett

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Biography: Bennett earned a degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University in 2009 and a master's in business administration from the University of Pennsylvania. She served in the U.S. Navy until 2019 and worked at various healthcare companies.

Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

Bennett campaigned on her Nabal background, and her website said, "Service has always been Rebecca’s north star – she’s running for Congress because she wants to make this country better for all of us... She knows we’re in a critical moment of our country’s history, and it’s time for us all to step up and make America a better place.

Bennett campaigned on lowering housing costs and her website said she supported "efforts to cut red tape, increase housing supply and construction, and make housing more affordable for buyers and renters."

Bennett said her naval service made her the most electable candidate, and said, "People with national security backgrounds are uniquely positioned to be able to go have conversations with voters that may not entertain voting for... a traditional Democrat."

Show sources

Sources: Rebecca Bennet 2026 campaign website, "Defending Our Freedoms," accessed March 4, 2026; Rebecca Bennet 2026 campaign website, "Making New Jersey More Affordable," accessed March 4, 2026; Washington Post, "Democrats step up efforts to woo military veterans ahead of midterms," March 4, 2026; Rebecca Bennett 2026 campaign website, "Meet Rebecca," accessed March 6, 2026; Cornell Daily Sun, "Navy Veteran, Mother, Rebecca Bennett ’09 Runs for Congress in New Jersey," October 21, 2025

Michael Roth

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Biography: Roth earned degrees from Leigh University and the University of Pennsylvania. He worked as an investor and later worked at the Small Business Administration under President Joe Biden (D).

Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

Roth said he supported reriting the tax code, and his website said he would support "Mak[ing] billionaires and multinational corporations pay their fair share."

Roth said that Kean had not brought enough funds into the district, and his website said he knew "how federal dollars shape local outcomes –- and how to bring that funding home for New Jersey and ensure that our government actually delivers for people."

Roth said he was most electable because he had experience delivering funds at the Small Business Adminsitration, and would be able to contrast his record to Kean: "I’ve delivered federal funding, lowered costs, and created jobs. I can provide results for New Jersey and contrast with Tom Kean Jr.’s record."

Show sources

Sources: Michael Roth 2026 campaign website, "Priorities, accessed March 5, 2026; TAPinto Berkley Heights, "Democratic Candidates for New Jersey's 7th Congressional District Lay Out Priorities at Forum in Berkeley Heights," January 10, 2026; New Jersey Globe, "Michael Roth, ex-Small Business Administration leader, makes NJ-7 campaign official," April 17, 2025

Tina Shah

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Biography: Shah earned a master's degree in public health from Harvard University and a medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University. She worked as a physician, a federal healthcare advisor, and a chief medical officer at an AI company.

Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

Shah campaigned on her experience as a physician and a need for change. She said that politicians had become "so disconnected from what is actually happening for us."

Shah campaigned on lowering healthcare costs, and her website said she supported "restoring the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits to lower health insurance premium costs."

Shah said her professional experience as a physician made her electable and would help her reach non-Demoratic voters: "I don't know if someone is a D, or a R, or an I. ... All I know is that a person is in front of me."

Show sources

Sources: Bucks County Herald, "Democrats vying to face U.S. Rep. Kean meet in New Jersey 7th District debate," February 11, 2026; Tina Shah 2026 campaign website, "Fix Healthcare, Save Lives," accessed Marc h 5, 2026; Insider NJ, "CD-7 Democrats Offer Differing Ways to Defeat Kean," January 28, 2026; New Jersey Globe, "Physician Tina Shah, who served in Obama and Biden administrations, will challenge Kean in NJ-7," July 1, 2025

Brian Varela

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Biography: Varela earned a bachelor's degree from Kean University in 2011 and a graduate degree from the University of North Carolina in 2020. He worked in business.

Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

Varela campaigned on reducing campaign spending, and his website said he would "end Citizens United, get corporate dark money out of politics."

Varela campaigned on support for Medicare for All and said, "Seeing my mother sick showed me the impact of a broken system. The Trump administration’s attacks are unacceptable. I support Medicare for All."

Varela said he was most electable because hw would be able to reach voters Trump did well with: "[Trump] attracted young voters, he attracted men, he attracted Hispanics. I am literally a young Hispanic male, and I am uniquely positioned to bring out these groups."

Show sources

Sources: Brian Varela 2026 campaign website, "Priorities," accessed March 5, 2026; TAPinto Berkley Heights, "Democratic Candidates for New Jersey's 7th Congressional District Lay Out Priorities at Forum in Berkeley Heights," January 10, 2026; New Jersey Globe, "Hunterdon Dems endorse Bennett in NJ-7 primary," March 1, 2026; Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey, "Brian Varela," March 4, 2022

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race has completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Ballotpedia is seeking 100 percent participation so voters can learn more about all the candidates on their ballots.

You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

Campaign ads

This section includes a selection of up to three campaign advertisements per candidate released in this race, as well as links to candidates' YouTube, Vimeo, and/or Facebook video pages. If you are aware of other links that should be included, please email us.

Rebecca Bennett

Ballotpedia did not come across any campaign ads for Rebecca Bennett while conducting research on this election. If you are aware of any ads that should be included, please email us.

Heather O'Rourke

Ballotpedia did not come across any campaign ads for Heather O'Rourke while conducting research on this election. If you are aware of any ads that should be included, please email us.

Michael Roth

Ballotpedia did not come across any campaign ads for Michael Roth while conducting research on this election. If you are aware of any ads that should be included, please email us.

Tina Shah

Ballotpedia did not come across any campaign ads for Tina Shah while conducting research on this election. If you are aware of any ads that should be included, please email us.

Brian Varela

Ballotpedia did not come across any campaign ads for Brian Varela while conducting research on this election. If you are aware of any ads that should be included, please email us.

Endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

This section lists noteworthy endorsements issued in this election, including those made by high-profile individuals and organizations, cross-party endorsements, and endorsements made by newspaper editorial boards. It also includes a bulleted list of links to official lists of endorsements for any candidates who published that information on their campaign websites. Please note that this list is not exhaustive. If you are aware of endorsements that should be included, please click here.

Democratic primary endorsements
Endorser	Rebecca Bennett	Megan O'Rourke
Government officials
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D) ^source		✔
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D) ^source		✔
Individuals
Frmr. U.S. Rep. Rush D. Holt, Jr. ^source		✔
Organizations
Alliance for American Leadership ^source		✔
American Federation of Government Employees Local 1012 ^source		✔
American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403 ^source		✔
Democrats Work for America ^source	✔
New Jersey Council of Machinists ^source		✔
New Politics ^source	✔
VoteVets ^source	✔

Polls

See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls

We provide results for polls that are included in polling aggregation from RealClearPolitics, when available. We will regularly check for polling aggregation for this race and add polls here once available. To notify us of polls available for this race, please email us.

Campaign finance

Campaign spending

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Rebecca Bennett	Democratic Party	$1,943,975	$771,281	$1,172,693	As of December 31, 2025
Michael Roth	Democratic Party	$610,279	$280,410	$329,869	As of December 31, 2025
Tina Shah	Democratic Party	$1,020,012	$373,531	$646,481	As of December 31, 2025
Brian Varela	Democratic Party	$1,759,731	$336,148	$1,423,584	As of December 31, 2025
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.

Satellite spending

See also: Satellite spending

Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.^[17]^[18]^[19]

If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.

By candidate	By election
Rebecca Bennett Megan O'Rourke Michael Roth Tina Shah Brian Varela	FEC

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2026 U.S. House elections in the state.
Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.

District map

Competitiveness
Presidential elections

State party control

Below is the district map in place for this election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2026

Information about competitiveness will be added here as it becomes available.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2026 elections, based on results from the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is EVEN. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were about the same as the national average. This made New Jersey's 7th the 212th most Republican district nationally.^[20]

2024 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2024 presidential election was in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by The Downballot.

2024 presidential results in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District
Kamala Harris	Donald Trump
48.0%	50.0%

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in New Jersey, 2024

New Jersey presidential election results (1900-2024)

16 Democratic wins
16 Republican wins

Year	1900	1904	1908	1912	1916	1920	1924	1928	1932	1936	1940	1944	1948	1952	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020	2024
Winning Party	R	R	R	D	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D

See also: Party control of New Jersey state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of New Jersey's congressional delegation as of January 2026.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from New Jersey
Party	U.S. Senate	U.S. House	Total
Democratic	2	8	10
Republican	0	3	3
Independent	0	0	0
Vacancies	0	1	1
Total	2	12	14

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in New Jersey's top four state executive offices as of February 2026.

State executive officials in New Jersey, February 2026
Office	Officeholder
Governor	Mikie Sherrill
Lieutenant Governor	Dale Caldwell
Secretary of State	Dale Caldwell
Attorney General	Jennifer Davenport

State legislature

New Jersey State Senate

Party		As of January 2026
	Democratic Party	25
	Republican Party	15
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		40

New Jersey General Assembly

Party		As of January 2026
	Democratic Party	57
	Republican Party	23
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		80

Trifecta control

New Jersey Party Control: 1992-2025
Fourteen years of Democratic trifectas • Eight years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
Governor	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
Senate	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	S	S	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
Assembly	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D

District history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2020.

General election

General election for U.S. House New Jersey District 7

Incumbent Thomas Kean Jr. (R) defeated Susan Altman (D), Andrew Black (G), and Lana Leguia (L) in the general election for U.S. House New Jersey District 7 on November 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Thomas Kean Jr. (R)	51.8	223,331
	Susan Altman (D)	46.4	200,025
	Andrew Black (G)	1.0	4,258
	Lana Leguia (L)	0.9	3,784

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 431,398
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.