New Jersey New Members 2019

Rep.-elect Jeff Van Drew (D-N.J.-02)

DATE OF BIRTH: Feb. 23, 1953
RESIDENCE: Dennis Township, N.J.
OCCUPATION: Lawmaker
EDUCATION: B.S., Rutgers University; D.M.D., Fairleigh Dickinson University
FAMILY: Wife, Ricarda; two children

Jeff Van Drew is adding New Jersey’s 2nd District to the Democratic column.

Van Drew defeated Republican Seth Grossman and four other candidates to replace retiring Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.).

Van Drew battled hard in a district that went for President Trump in 2016. He was aided by the National Republican Congressional Committee’s decision to withdraw support for Grossman after remarks calling diversity a “bunch of crap.” Van Drew touted his centrist credentials and has a top rating from the National Rifle Association.

Van Drew is coming to Congress after a long career of public service. He first served on the Dennis Township Committee in 1991 and for two stints as  mayor. He served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2002 to 2008, when he moved to the state Senate.

Outside of his political career, Van Drew is a dentist and has served as president of the New Jersey Dental Society.

Rep.-elect Andy Kim (D-N.J.-03)

DATE OF BIRTH: July 12, 1982
RESIDENCE:  Marlton, N.J.
OCCUPATION: Former national security official
EDUCATION: B.A., University of Chicago; M.Phil., D.Phil., University of Oxford
FAMILY: Wife, Kammy Lai; two sons

Andy Kim, the son of South Korean immigrants and a former Obama administration official, is joining Congress after defeating two-term GOP Rep. Tom MacArthur.

Kim was endorsed by former President Obama. He held several national security roles in the Obama administration, including stints working at the State Department, the Defense Department and on the National Security Council, serving as well as an adviser to Gens. David Petraeus and John Allen in Afghanistan.

During the campaign, Kim attacked MacArthur’s record on health care and taxes. MacArthur played a key role in the ObamaCare repeal bill House Republicans approved last year and was  the only New Jersey Republican to vote for President Trump’s tax law, which raised concerns among many residents because it capped the state and local tax deduction at $10,000.

Kim, a Rhodes scholar, moved back to his home state of New Jersey in 2017 after years in Washington and Afghanistan.

Rep.-elect Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.-07)

DATE OF BIRTH: Sept. 15, 1965
RESIDENCE:  Rocky Hill, N.J.
OCCUPATION: Human rights activist
EDUCATION: B.A., University of California, Berkeley; M.Phil., St. Anthony’s College, University of Oxford
FAMILY: One child

Tom Malinowski, a human rights activist and first-time congressional candidate, will represent New Jersey’s 7th District.

Malinowski defeated Rep. Leonard Lance (R). Lance, considered a centrist Republican, voted against the GOP’s tax law.

Malinowski used the law’s passage against Lance, even though he rejected it because it capped the state and local tax (SALT) deduction at $10,000. Malinowski said he’d only support a House Speaker who would propose a bill that restores the full SALT deduction.

Malinowski, who was a Rhodes Scholar in the University of Oxford, served as assistant secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in the Obama administration from 2014 to 2017. The New Jersey Democrat also served as the Washington director for Human Rights Watch from 2001 to 2013.

Malinowski was born in Poland and grew up in New Jersey.

Rep.-elect Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.-11)

DATE OF BIRTH: Jan. 19, 1972
RESIDENCE:  Montclair, N.J.
OCCUPATION: Former federal prosecutor, Ex-Navy helicopter pilot
EDUCATION: B.S., U.S. Naval Academy; M.Sci., London School of Economics; J.D., Georgetown University
FAMILY: Husband, Jason Hedberg; four children

Democrat Mikie Sherrill, a Navy veteran, is succeeding Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R), flipping a district that only narrowly went for President Trump in 2016.

In the general election, she defeated Republican state Assemblyman Jay Webber to succeed Frelinghuysen, the outgoing chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, who retired.

Former Vice President Joe Biden campaigned for Sherrill, while Vice President Pence campaigned for Webber.

Sherrill made attacking President Trump’s tax law a big part of her campaign. The law caps the state and local tax deduction at $10,000, and New Jersey’s 11th District is one of the congressional districts where the greatest percentage of taxpayers have claimed the deduction in recent years.

Sherrill was one of a number of female veterans who ran for Congress in 2018. She spent nearly 10 years on active duty in the Navy before going to law school and working in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey.