For the 113th and successive Congresses, the congressional district contains portions of six counties and 74 municipalities. Essex County: Hunterdon County : Morris County: Somerset County: Union County: Warren County:
History
In the 2012 general election, Republican incumbent Leonard Lance held his seat against Democratic challenger Upendra J. Chivukula. In the 2010 general election, Democratic challenger Ed Potosnak challenged Lance, but Lance defeated Potosnak by a margin of 59% to 41%. For the 2012 election, both Potosnak and former Edison Mayor Jun Choi announced their candidacies for the Democratic nomination. Choi dropped out of the race in December 2011 after redistricting left his Edison home outside the 7th District. Potosnak dropped out of the race in January 2012 to take a position as executive director of the New JerseyLeague of Conservation Voters, leaving a momentarily empty field for the Democratic nomination. In 2008, Mike Ferguson did not seek another term. Linda Stender won the Democratic nomination unopposed, while Republican primary voters chose State Senator Leonard Lance in a field of eight candidates. In the general election, Lance defeated Assemblywoman Linda Stender by a margin of 25,833 votes.
Effect of 2000 redistricting
New Jersey's 7th district and the 12th district were redistricted after the 2000 census by a bipartisan panel. By consensus of the panel, the Democratic and Republican parties agreed to trade areas in the two districts to make them safer for their respective incumbents. It is likely that this tradeoff, which made New Jersey's 7th less competitive for Democrats, had an effect on the outcome of 2006 election, which was decided by approximately 3,000 votes. Areas of the former 7th district such as Somerset in Franklin Township that had historically voted reliably Democratic were moved into the adjacent 12th district to shore up the Democratic incumbent's hold on there, while reliably Republican Millburn was removed from the 7th, and instead split between the 10th and 11th districts. Despite the redistricting, NJ-07 was still the most competitive House district in New Jersey, and was the only one considered to be in play in 2006 by political pundits.
Election of 2018
In the 2018 election, Tom Malinowski, former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, was considered the front runner among the Democrats challenging Republican incumbent Leonard Lance. Malinowski was endorsed by Westfield teacher/attorney Lisa Mandelblatt and attorney Scott Salmon when they withdrew from the race in February 2018. Other candidates in the Democratic primary included lawyer Goutam Jois; and social worker Peter Jacob, who was defeated by Lance in the 2016 election. Green Party of New Jersey member Diane Moxley also announced her intent to run for the seat. Lindsay Brown, a product manager at the New York Post and a self-described progressive, ran in the Republican primary against Lance. Berkeley Heights banking executive Linda Weber and environmental advocate David Pringle withdrew in March 2018. During the fourth quarter of 2017, the Malinowski campaign raised $528,000 while the incumbent Lance raised $237,000. Jois raised $189,000 and Jacob raised $29,000. Malinowski won the Democratic nomination in the June primary.
2018 primary results
In the Democratic primary Malinowski prevailed with 26,059 votes and 66.8% of the vote. Jacob finished second with 7,467 votes and 19.1% of the vote. Lance won the Republican primary with 74.9%, and 24,856 votes.
Demographic shifts
The district has turned from a once reliable Republican district into a competitive district as it has become more ethnically mixed with Caucasians comprising, as of 2009, 79% of the district, African Americans 5.7%, Asians 11% and Latinos 10%. In addition, the district is home to a large group of foreign-born residents, totaling 131,000 or 20% of the population. The district has the 5th highest median income in the nation.
