#Son of former Gov. Thomas Kean loses bid to unseat New Jersey congressman

Suburban New Jersey Congressman Tom Malinowski appeared poised to hang onto his seat in Washington late Tuesday night, fending off a spirited challenge from the son of former Gov. Thomas Kean.

Malinowski capturing 55 percent of the vote, while Republican state Sen. Thomas Kean Jr. scored 45 percent, with 60 percent of precincts reporting.

The Associated Press projected early Wednesday morning that Malinowski would be returned to Capitol Hill.

The results will not be finalized for days.

New Jersey officials used a mail ballot system for the November election amid the coronavirus outbreak in a bid to prevent crowds at polling places that could help spread the deadly virus. Residents could still vote in person, but only using affidavit ballots that officials will not count until after the absentee votes are tallied to ensure no one votes twice.

The seat was one of the few competitive seats for Republicans in the Northeast, who were hoping to reclaim a district they represented for decades until Malinowski’s 2018 win.

However, Kean Jr. faced an uphill fight from the campaign’s start due to the antipathy towards President Trump from suburban and well-educated voters, who make up a key portion of the electorate in the heavily suburban district.

The well-respected Cook Report rated the contest as ‘Lean Democrat.’

The 7th District stretches from Morris and Essex counties to Hunterdon County, on the border with Pennsylvania. Voters there backed Hilary Clinton over President Trump by a 1 percent margin in the 2016 election. But the Democratic margin of victory grew to 5 points in the 2018 congressional election.

Kean Jr., the New Jersey state Senate’s minority leader, portrayed himself as a Republican who has experienced “working across party lines” in television ads in August.

But Kean and his backers went negative in the fall as he sought to make up ground, running an ad in September that accused Malinowski of protecting sexual abusers while working as a lobbyist for Human Rights Watch, a humanitarian group.

In turn, Malinowski attacked Kean for accepting campaign funds from anti-abortion groups and supporting efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.