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Tom Kean Jr., a scion of one of America's oldest political families, realized his long-held ambitions for a congressional seat with a win over Rep. Tom Malinowski that flipped a historically red seat back to Republican control.
NBC News projected Kean as the winner just after midnight on Wednesday.
For Kean, the win over Malinowski in New Jersey's 7th District is a vindication after a narrow defeat two years ago. It was simply too much to overcome, Malinowski said in a statement Wednesday.
"While we did as well or better than in 2020 in the communities I have represented these last four years, and I expect the results to tighten further as all votes are counted, the new district proved too much of a hurdle to overcome," the Democrat said. "I’m gratified that across the country, Americans chose moderation over MAGA, while passing referenda protecting a woman’s right to choose.
"Our democracy and our freedoms are in stronger shape today than many predicted. And our achievements of the last few years, from infrastructure, to health care, to fighting climate change, are more secure," he continued.
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Kean's father, Tom Kean Sr., was one of the state’s most popular governors ever and later co-chair of the 9/11 Commission. His grandfather Robert Kean was a congressman for 20 years. His great-grandfather Hamilton Kean was a U.S. senator.
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In fact, the Kean political lineage goes all the way back to the Continental Congress, where his great-great-great-great-grandfather John Kean was a delegate. New Jersey's Kean University is named for the family.
But Kean Jr. has had a more winding path. He lost bids for the U.S. House in 2000 and 2020, and for the U.S. Senate in 2006. In the interim, he was appointed in 2001 to the state Assembly (later winning election in his own right), and not long after was appointed to the state Senate (where he again ultimately won election to his seat and later became minority leader).
Malinowski, a former assistant secretary of state in the Obama administration, will leave Congress after two terms. He turned a decades-long red seat blue in 2018, but in 2020 only beat Kean Jr. by about 5,000 votes, and was almost immediately seen as vulnerable this year.
Earlier in the evening, Malinowski told supporters that the race was too close to call, though NBC still projected Kean the winner with a margin of almost 13,000 votes.
