Susan Altman
Susan Altman (Democratic Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent New Jersey's 7th Congressional District. She is on the ballot in the general election on November 5, 2024. She advanced from the Democratic primary on June 4, 2024.
Biography
Susan Altman was born in Clinton, New Jersey. She earned a bachelor's degree from Columbia University and two graduate degrees from Oxford University. Her career experience includes working as a nonprofit executive director..[1]
2024 battleground election
Ballotpedia identified the November 5 general election as a battleground race. The summary below is from our coverage of this election, found here.
Incumbent Thomas Kean Jr. (R), Susan Altman (D), Andrew Black (G), and Lana Leguia (L) are running in the general election for New Jersey's 7th Congressional District on November 5, 2024.
Politico's Matt Friedman called the contest "the most competitive major race in the state."[2] Kean is one of 19 U.S. House Republicans who represent districts that voted for Biden in 2020.
Party control of the district has gone back and forth in recent cycles. Republican Leonard Lance represented the district for a decade before Democrat Tom Malinowski defeated him in 2018. Kean ran against Malinowski in 2020 and lost 50.6%-49.4%. Kean defeated Malinowski 51.4%-48.6% in 2022 following redistricting.
Kean worked for the Environmental Protection Agency during the George H. W. Bush administration and as a staffer for former U.S. Rep. Bob Franks (R).[3] He was a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician and was the vice president of a fire department.[3] He served in both the New Jersey General Assembly and the state Senate.[3]
Kean is the grandson of former U.S. Rep. Robert Kean (R) and son of former Gov. Thomas H. Kean, Sr. (R).[3] Kean's campaign website stated, "As the representative for more than 775,000 New Jersey residents, Tom is focused on keeping costs low for families, improving access to care, supporting a robust and reliable infrastructure, boosting innovation at home, and helping students reach their top potential."[3]
Altman played college and professional basketball before becoming a teacher and a basketball coach.[4] She was the executive director of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance, which her campaign website described as "a non-profit organization focused primarily on combating political corruption in Trenton."[4]
Altman is running against corruption. Altman said she supported overturning Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.[5] Her campaign website stated, "The corruption tax is NJ’s biggest tax. It’s unseen but pervasive. New Jersey has more than enough money to restore parks, fund our schools, and pave the roads, but when the politically connected have their hands in the public coffers, the public gets the short end of the stick."[4]
Altman said Kean "can't be trusted to stand up to the extremists targeting reproductive rights."[6] Kean said, "My record on this issue is clear and so are Sue Altman's dishonest intentions."[7] In August 2024, Kean introduced the IVF for Families Act, which would provide income tax credits for in vitro fertilization.[8] Altman criticized Kean on X for not supporting U.S. Rep. Susan Wild's (D) bill in Congress, which Altman said would protect access to IVF.[9]
As of September 4, 2024, Decision Desk HQ and The Hill and Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball both rated the general election Likely Republican, while Inside Elections with Nathan Gonzales rated it Tilt Republican and The Cook Political Report rated it Toss-up.
New Jersey's 7th Congressional District is one of 34 congressional districts with a Republican incumbent or an open seat the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is targeting in 2024. To read about DCCC targeting initiatives, click here. For a complete list of DCCC targeted districts, click here.
Elections
2024
See also: New Jersey's 7th Congressional District election, 2024
New Jersey's 7th Congressional District election, 2024 (June 4 Democratic primary)
New Jersey's 7th Congressional District election, 2024 (June 4 Republican primary)
General election
General election for U.S. House New Jersey District 7
Incumbent Thomas Kean Jr., Susan Altman, Andrew Black, and Lana Leguia are running in the general election for U.S. House New Jersey District 7 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | ||
 | Thomas Kean Jr. (R) | |
 | Susan Altman (D) | |
 | Andrew Black (G)  | |
 | Lana Leguia (L) | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 7
Susan Altman advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 7 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Susan Altman | 100.0 | 38,030 |
| Total votes: 38,030 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Jason Blazakis (D)
- Joseph Signorello (D)
- Gregory Vartan (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 7
Incumbent Thomas Kean Jr. defeated Roger Bacon in the Republican primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 7 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Thomas Kean Jr. | 78.2 | 37,623 |
 | Roger Bacon | 21.8 | 10,460 | |
| Total votes: 48,083 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Polls
- See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls
Polls are conducted with a variety of methodologies and have margins of error or credibility intervals.[10] The Pew Research Center wrote, "A margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level means that if we fielded the same survey 100 times, we would expect the result to be within 3 percentage points of the true population value 95 of those times."[11] For tips on reading polls from FiveThirtyEight, click here. For tips from Pew, click here.
The links below show polls for this race aggregated by FiveThirtyEight and RealClearPolitics, where available. Click here to read about FiveThirtyEight's criteria for including polls in its aggregation.
Election campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Kean Jr. | Republican Party | $4,230,089 | $1,318,805 | $3,005,363 | As of June 30, 2024 |
| Susan Altman | Democratic Party | $3,038,318 | $814,988 | $2,223,330 | As of June 30, 2024 |
|
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2024. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
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Satellite spending
- See also: Satellite spending
Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[12][13][14]
If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.
| By candidate | By election |
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Race ratings
- See also: Race rating definitions and methods
Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:
- Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
- Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
- Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.[15]
- Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.
Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.[16][17][18]
| Race ratings: New Jersey's 7th Congressional District election, 2024 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race tracker | Race ratings | ||||||||
| September 10, 2024 | September 3, 2024 | August 27, 2024 | August 20, 2024 | ||||||
| The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter | Toss-up | Toss-up | Toss-up | Toss-up | |||||
| Decision Desk HQ and The Hill | Lean Republican | Lean Republican | Lean Republican | Toss-up | |||||
| Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales | Tilt Republican | Tilt Republican | Tilt Republican | Tilt Republican | |||||
| Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball | Lean Republican | Lean Republican | Lean Republican | Lean Republican | |||||
| Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week. | |||||||||
Endorsements
Altman received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.
- EMILY's List
- Elect Democratic Women
- End Citizens United
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
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You can ask Susan Altman to fill out this survey by using the buttons below or emailing [email protected].
Campaign ads
| July 8, 2024 |
View more ads here:
Campaign website
Altman’s campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Anti-Corruption Sue has dedicated her career to rooting out political corruption in New Jersey in order to protect New Jersey’s taxpayers and our democracy – and she’s ready to take that work to Washington. Sue has pledged to never accept any donations from corporate PACs.
With conservative extremists decimating reproductive rights, Sue will work to protect access to contraception, reproductive choice, and women’s health. As an advocate, Sue worked with grassroots groups to protect this right here in NJ.
Everything is too expensive! From groceries to housing to insurance and fuel, families are seeing more and more of their hard earned paycheck drain away each month. Sue has a long record of working hard for everyday people and will fight in Congress to spur competition in our economy, restore the SALT deduction so New Jerseyans are not double-taxed, fight for a livable wage for all workers, and ensure that homes are bought by humans, not corporations. Our district and our state must be a place where families can thrive, young people can find homes, and seniors can retire.
Environmental change is an existential threat to our communities and wildlife. From farmers grappling with changing weather patterns to our towns experiencing costly and life-threatening flooding, it’s clear that we need bold action. Sue will address our environmental crises at multiple levels, as well as work with our communities to ensure they have the resources they need to address immediate threats to our towns. Sue also knows that our district includes some of the last remaining beautiful open space in New Jersey, and she’ll work in Congress to protect our rural communities and natural environment from short-sighted, environmentally unsustainable overdevelopment and warehouse sprawl.
Over the last 50 years, the pay and benefits for workers has decreased. This was caused in part by systematic de-unionization and de-industrialization and the loss of buying power for everyday people while corporate and CEO pay soared. Sue supports the right of workers to organize and the PRO Act. She also recognizes the exportation of good paying jobs to low wage countries harms working families here, and benefits almost no one other than multinational corporations. Sue understands that if we are going to support working families, we need to bring manufacturing, unions, fair wages, and job security back to New Jersey.
Sue has long advocated for the taxpayer in New Jersey - often against her own party. Whether it was fighting against New Jersey's "corruption tax", pushing accountability for a bipartisan corporate tax giveaway program in Camden that fleeced hard working New Jerseyans out of a billion dollars, or her commitment to repealing the unfair and punitive Trump-era SALT deduction cap, Sue will always fight for fair taxes and smart, efficient use of our taxpayer money.
As our Congresswoman, Sue will fight for common-sense gun reforms to keep our schools, places of worship, and communities safe. She’ll work to give law enforcement the tools they need to get weapons of war out of our communities. She will work to ensure those responsible for crimes of hate are held accountable, investments are made into upstream causes of crime, our local police are fully funded to keep our communities safe, and white collar and political corruption crimes are investigated by law enforcement, and that those professionals have the funds they need to hold the powerful accountable by the law.
Extremists are attacking our democracy every day, from their support of the insurrection on January 6th to attempts to undermine voting rights across the country. As she did for years in Trenton, Sue will advocate for legislation at the federal level to make voting accessible to all who are eligible.
Right now, House Republicans are attempting to gut Medicare and Social Security. As our Congresswoman, Sue will always protect these critical programs and fight any attempts to make seniors foot the bill for tax cuts for megacorporations and the ultra-wealthy.
As a former educator, the fight for our schools is personal for Sue – and that’s why she’s committed to fighting against book banning and for investing in our public schools and working to ensure that every child in America gets the kind of high-quality education that they deserve.
Our kids are struggling – and Congress needs to help this generation of young people. From fighting for funding for services to decreasing the stigma around mental health issues, Sue will prioritize this crisis as your Congresswoman. [19] |
” |
| —Sue Altman’s campaign website (2024)[20] | ||
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate U.S. House New Jersey District 7 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Sue Altman for Congress, "Meet Sue," accessed June 3, 2024
- ↑ Politico, "Kean rejects 2 debates and Altman pounces," July 31, 2024
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Tom Kean 2024 campaign website, "Meet Tom," accessed August 23, 2024
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Sue Altman 2024 campaign website," accessed August 23, 2024
- ↑ NJ Spotlight News, "Control of U.S. House may run through NJ’s seesaw 7th District," June 5, 2024
- ↑ X, "Altman on February 22, 2024," accessed August 27, 2024
- ↑ Facebook, "Kean on February 22, 2024," accessed August 27, 2024
- ↑ Politico, "Democrats test a battleground theory: IVF fears can win against a ‘pro-choice’ Republican," August 12, 2024
- ↑ X, "Altman on August 22, 2024," accessed August 27, 2024
- ↑ For more information on the difference between margins of error and credibility intervals, see explanations from the American Association for Public Opinion Research and Ipsos.
- ↑ Pew Research Center, "5 key things to know about the margin of error in election polls," September 8, 2016
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ National Review.com, "Why the Media Hate Super PACs," December 12, 2021
- ↑ Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Sue Altman’s campaign website, “Issues,” accessed June 3, 2024
