NJ’s hottest congressional race not short on cash

WASHINGTON —  The big money has started flowing in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, the state’s lone toss-up race for Congress — and it’s not coming from the candidates’ own campaign accounts.

Near the end of September, for instance, a political organization called LAND I LOVE PAC — a political action committee that legally can raise and spend unlimited sums of money — disclosed it would spend more than $4 million against Rebecca Bennett, a first-time political candidate running for the seat against incumbent U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr.

The group bought air time for political ads to run in the expensive New York City media market, including during news, NFL games and comic shows, Federal Communications Commission records show.

In addition, America PAC – the group led by billionaire Elon Musk – has in recent weeks lined up hundreds of thousands of dollars against Bennett and in favor of Kean. Musk’s super PAC spent (opens in new tab) more than $1 million in 2024 to re-elect Kean over Sue Altman, a progressive organizer who went on to work for now-Sen. Andy Kim, a Democrat.

Meanwhile, political groups allied with Democrats have poured in millions of their own dollars, although not to the same levels as the Republicans. The gun safety group Giffords PAC reported last month that it would spend $378,000 against Kean.

Roughly three weeks from Election Day, the race to represent New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District is on track to be one of the most expensive House races in the country.

Race critical to Congress’ control

With the outcome up in the air and public polling indicating a razor-thin margin between the two, the results in the district could play a significant role in determining which party holds the majority in the House when a new Congress is sworn in come January.

Kean’s campaign was jolted this week by news reports of top Republican campaign organizations pulling some of their funding from the race, indicating that the congressman may be falling behind. But Kean – the son of New Jersey’s popular former Gov. Thomas Kean – nevertheless maintains a strong money edge over Bennett.

Since Aug. 1, Republicans have spent about $14.4 million on the race, according to AdImpact, a private firm that tracks political spending and advertising, more than twice the Democrats spending total so far of roughly $6.9 million.

Those sums dwarf the money the campaigns have raised on their own. Kean had raised a total of approximately $4.9 million for his campaign, according to the latest figures on file with the Federal Election Commission, though those figures are months old. Kean has $3.6 million in cash on hand, according to the latest FEC data.

“Tom Kean Jr. delivers for New Jersey. He cut taxes, fought for a bigger SALT deduction, and made communities safer,” Maureen O’Toole, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Campaign Committee, an arm of the party that works to elect Republicans to the House. “Voters know it, and they’ll send him back to Washington on November 3rd.”

The Kean campaign did not respond to a request for comment from NJ Spotlight News.

In the House, Kean has been a reliable backbencher for party leaders, though they lost his vote for several months after he disappeared from public life in the spring. Kean later attributed his absence (opens in new tab) to clinical depression, but provided no further details.

At a campaign appearance for Kean in the district, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Kean is not a flashy member.

“There are show ponies and there are workhorses,” Johnson said, according to a video (opens in new tab) posted on Save Jersey, a conservative politics site. “This guy defines workhorse.”

Ethics a hot issue

Bennett and her Democratic allies have targeted Kean for his support of the Trump administration’s policies, including the ongoing war against Iran. They have particularly centered on the issue of political corruption as well, highlighting the congressman’s stock trading.

Kean is a frequent trader and voted for a Republican bill to limit members of Congress from trading stocks (opens in new tab). That bill, which has not become law, stopped short of a total ban.

Carly Jones, communications director for the Bennett campaign, said her candidate “hasn’t taken a dime from corporate PACs in this race, has sold all of her individual stocks and is committed to fighting for campaign finance reform if elected.

“Meanwhile, Tom Kean Jr., Donald Trump, and Elon Musk are pouring millions into the district to distract from the fact that Kean Jr.’s record is one of voting for higher costs and forever wars while growing his own stock portfolio,” she said.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which backs Democrats running for Congress, has spent more than $1 million to support Bennett and is targeting both Kean’s stock-trading and missed votes. The DCCC is also trying to sway Asian Americans in particular, with a digital ad (opens in new tab) running on streaming platforms that focuses on the economy.

“The DCCC is all in on flipping this seat and we are proudly supporting Rebecca Bennett’s campaign on the airwaves so that she can shake up a broken Washington and fight for New Jersey families when she wins in November,” spokesman Eli Cousin said in a statement.

Bennett, a former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot, has raised $4.27 million and has roughly $1.45 million in cash on hand, according to the FEC.

The campaigns face a Thursday deadline to file quarterly reports with the FEC, the primary federal agency that regulates elections and campaign finance. The filings will be the last quarterly reports before the election.

Record spending nationwide

Nationally, political advisers, campaigns and outside spending groups have spent more than $1 billion on campaign commercials in September alone, according to AdImpact. That sum is a record, surpassing the $589 million spent in September, 2022, and $821 million in September 2024, a presidential election year.

Republican advertisers are outspending Democrats, too. They comprised 60% of spending in September, AdImpact said, a change from previous election cycles. And the money will keep flowing.

“Advertisers have, to date, booked nearly $1.1 billion in reservations for October and November,” Elvin Choi of AdImpact wrote (opens in new tab) last month.

The largest single donor to the 7th Congressional District race so far, the LAND I LOVE PAC was created in May 2025 and appears to have no clear connection to New Jersey or the district. Its contributors are to be largely insurance companies, investment firms and businesses from the South, in particular Florida and Louisiana.

The group’s treasurer, who lists an office park address in Alabama, did not respond to a request for comment from NJ Spotlight News about why it opposes Bennett.

Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was nearly killed by a gunman in Tucson in 2011, campaigned with Bennett last week. A gun-safety PAC associated with Giffords set aside about $378,000 in part to run ads against Kean, it said.

Spokesman Chris Harris cited Kean’s vote for a sweeping Republican tax bill that became law last year. The law is most notable for its cuts in food assistance and Medicaid, among other items, but it also loosened regulation of multiple classes of firearms.

Harris said the law “directly weakened gun laws” and allowed short-barreled rifles and silencers to go unregulated under the National Firearms Act, a 1934 law that levies taxes and imposes registration requirements on weapons.