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Kean and Bennett face off in high-stakes NJ midterm debate Sunday night
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Mike Hayes
Published Sep 27, 2026
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Aristide Economopoulos for Gothamist and Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
By
Mike Hayes
Published Sep 27, 2026
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Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. and Democratic Rebecca Bennett will meet on stage Sunday night for their first and most likely only debate.
The race between the two-term incumbent and a first-time candidate is taking place in New Jersey's one true swing district, and will help determine which party controls the House of Representatives for the remainder of President Donald Trump’s second term.
The GOP had hoped New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District would be safe for Republicans after the last round of redistricting. Republicans an advantage over Democrats to the tune of 20,000 registered voters.
But just last week, a Stimsight Research poll gave Bennett a 5-point lead over Kean. That number has boosted morale among Democrats, but is still within the margin of error.
“What we're seeing is an incredibly close race, polling having it basically neck and neck,” said Ashley Koning, director of the Rutgers University Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling.
Here’s everything you need to know about Sunday’s debate:
Affordability should still be the key topic
Drivers in this sprawling district — mostly located in North Jersey but reaching as far southwest as Lambertville — know gas prices have reached roughly $5 per gallon.
Pump prices, grocery store bills, out-of-reach suburban homes and ever-increasing electricity costs are top-of-mind for voters.
Expect Kean to lean on his record in Congress when it comes to questions of affordability. Much of his work has targeted homeowners.
He’s touted how he helped restore and expand the cap on the state and local tax, or SALT, deduction to benefit New Jersey homeowners after President Donald Trump limited the deduction during his first term in 2017.
In January, he introduced the MAHA — or Make American Housing Affordable — Act, which would provide a federal tax credit of up to $10,000 for first-time home buyers. In July, he introduced the MOVE Act, which would allow homeowners to transfer their existing mortgage rate to a new property.
But polling shows that Trump’s economic policies are increasingly unpopular in New Jersey, and Bennett has tried to both tie Kean to the president and blame Republicans for rising prices. Expect Bennett to attack Kean over his vote for Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which she has said is throwing thousands of New Jerseyans off their healthcare coverage while driving up utility costs.
But Bennett will need to do more than criticize Kean’s record. Viewers will be looking for details on her own affordability plan. On the campaign trail, she’s said that if elected she’ll focus on lowering energy costs by working to invest in more clean and renewable energy sources. She’s also said she’ll support passing federal paid family leave.
Will Kean distance himself from Trump?
Trump’s popularity in New Jersey has continued to plummet. A Morning Consult poll from July found just 38% of New Jerseyans approve of his performance.
Midterm elections typically serve as a referendum on the president’s job approval, and Bennett is likely to raise Kean’s support for the president’s tariffs, the war in Iran and tax policies that have largely favored the wealthy.
Some New Jersey Republicans have urged Kean to distance himself from Trump. But Kean has so far resisted criticizing the president, even on local issues that have drawn bipartisan outcry such as the Trump administration’s proposal to transform a warehouse in the district into an ICE detention center and the president’s decision to freeze $16 billion in funding for the Gateway Tunnel. Trump had said he withheld the money to punish Democrats in New Jersey and New York.
In February, the two states sued Trump in federal court and the money has since been released so the project can continue.
Trump super PAC MAGA, Inc. recently pledged more than $3 million to support Kean in the final stretch of the race.
But Kean has so far run a quiet campaign since returning from a 116-day absence from Congress. Kean said in June that he was hospitalized for depression earlier this year. His campaign appearances have been sparse. His staff have not made his schedule available to the media, and he has not given any in-depth interviews since returning to the job.
Micah Rasmussen, director of Rider University's Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics, said Sunday’s debate is “really one of the first unscripted opportunities that Tom Kean has had to really get out there and answer questions. I think we are all looking to see how he has changed, whether it's made him more reserved or less reserved. I think there's going to be a lot of people paying a lot of attention here, not just in the district, but maybe around the country as well.”
It’s going to get personal
Kean was a longtime state assemblymember. He's the son of a popular former governor who can trace his family’s American roots back to 1776. Bennett is an ex-Navy helicopter pilot, just like New Jersey's current governor, Mikie Sherrill. Both candidates are expected to try to sell voters on their back stories, but the debate is likely to get personal.
Bennett has so far resisted attacking Kean over his absence from Congress. He did not disclose for several months why he had stepped away from the job. Bennett said she was happy Kean got the care he needs for his mental health.
She’s been less collegial about Kean’s stock portfolio. Kean profited from stock trades during his absence, including from AI and data center companies, while he also sits on several House committees that oversee the tech industry. In response, Bennett has accused her opponent of caring more about the companies he’s taken a stake in than every day New Jerseyans.
Kean says he has no personal say in any investment transactions. And he has been critical of Bennett’s work as a healthcare industry executive. An attack ad by the National Republican Campaign Committee claimed she profited as out-of-pocket healthcare costs rose.
“[Kean’s] trying to make that a liability for Bennett,” Rasmussen said. “She's going to come back and say, ‘Wait a minute. Look at all the cuts to healthcare that your Congress has made while you were in the majority."
Bennett said she and her husband divested all individual stocks prior to launching her campaign for Congress.
The 90-minute debate is sponsored by the New Jersey Globe and Rider University. It starts at 7 p.m. on Sunday. It’s airing on C-SPAN and the New Jersey Globe’s YouTube channel.
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Mike Hayes
Mike Hayes covers equity and access to opportunity in New Jersey. He joined WNYC and Gothamist in 2023. Before that, he worked as a freelance journalist writing about policing and criminal justice. He has written for ProPublica, CNN, HuffPost, BuzzFeed News and The Appeal. He is also the author of the book, “The Secret Files: Bill De Blasio, The NYPD, and the Broken Promises of Police Reform.” In 2019, he was a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists.
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