New Jersey Democrats Work to Flip House Seat

Sue Altman has made a name for herself by taking on political heavy hitters in New Jersey.

First was Chris Christie, the famously pugnacious Republican governor, who, during a 2016 town hall, was so exasperated by her questions about education funding that he tossed his microphone to her.

Three years later, she tangled with George Norcross III, then among the state’s most influential Democratic power brokers, as she led a drumbeat of criticism against corporate tax breaks awarded to companies with close ties to him.

Now Ms. Altman is seeking to unseat Thomas Kean Jr., a first-term Republican congressman who is the scion and namesake of a former governor, in one of a handful of races nationwide that will determine whether Republicans retain control of the House.

The result of Tuesday’s election in New Jersey’s Seventh Congressional District may say a lot about how Mr. Kean, 56, has campaigned in the race, where recent polls have prompted Democrats to mount a last-minute push in hopes of flipping the seat.

But it also may offer insight into the direction of New Jersey and of suburban swing districts like the Seventh, an affluent and well-educated region split nearly evenly between Republicans and Democrats. President Biden beat Donald J. Trump there by four points in 2020, but two years later Mr. Kean beat the Democratic incumbent, Tom Malinowski, by about three points.