Republican Kean defeats Malinowski in New Jersey rematch

By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Republican Tom Kean Jr. has defeated incumbent Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski in New Jersey’s 7th District. Kean’s victory comes two years after he narrowly lost to Malinowski and more than two decades after he first sought election to Congress. Malinowski was vying for a third term amid serious headwinds: high inflation, sagging approval of Democratic President Joe Biden’s performance and a redrawn district that favored Republicans. Malinowski cast Kean as too beholden to hard core supporters of former President Donald Trump and warned that if Kean and the GOP won, then Republicans would focus on investigating Biden and stymying any legislative agenda. That strategy faltered.