GOP Rep Thomas Kean projected to survive Susan Altman’s challenge in hotly contested New Jersey district

Incumbent Republican Rep. Thomas Kean Jr. is projected to win re-election Tuesday night to represent New Jersey’s hotly contested 7th Congressional District in the House of Representatives. 

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The contest was widely viewed as one of the most competitive races in the state and considered a battleground, as the district voted for President Biden in 2020. 

Kean was the Republicans’ 175th projected victory of the evening, according to the Associated Press’s tally at the time of the race call.

In this combination photo, Sue Altman speaks at a public forum, Aug. 23, 2016, in Bordentown, N.J., left, and Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J., speaks during a news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 22, 2024.  (AP Photo)

The seat has alternated between Republican and Democrat for several cycles, with Kean first being elected in 2022. 

Kean worked for former President George H. W. Bush and served in both the New Jersey General Assembly and the state Senate. He is the grandson of former U.S. Rep. Robert Kean and the son of former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean Sr. 

Kean, this cycle, said he was most focused on the economy and on “keeping costs low for families” in his district. 

Thomas Kean Jr., a member of the Republican Party, is seen during a press conference on April 22, 2024, in Kyiv, Ukraine.  (Vitalii Nosach/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

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Meanwhile, Altman is a former women’s college basketball player for Columbia University. She later played professionally in Europe for Killester in the Irish Women’s Super League in Dublin and for Medical Instinct Veilchen in Goettingen, Germany. 

Altman has said she grew up in a family of Republicans but that her time at Columbia made her more liberal. 

Sue Altman attends the Green New Deal Network Day of Action rally during the #SealTheDeal for Climate, Jobs, Care, and Justice national day of action on August 19, 2021, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  (Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Green New Deal Network)

Protecting women in sports has been a hot topic this election cycle, as Republicans seek to keep biological males out of women’s sports competitions and locker rooms. 

Altman told the New York Post that she and others in women’s locker rooms are not worried about the presence of transgender athletes. Altman also advocated for allowing transgender athletes in girls’ sports at the youth level but suggested she would be in favor of leaving individual committees the decision to allow those athletes to compete. 

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New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District is among several seats encircling New York City that could determine who controls the House. 

Fox News Power Rankings showed the district leans Republican.

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