NJ-07: Tom Kean Jr. gets a new Democratic challenger: Somerset County Commissioner Sara Sooy

The Democratic primary to challenge Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) in the 7th congressional district has been stable for several months, but it’s getting a late entrant who could shake things up: Somerset County Commissioner Sara Sooy (D-Bedminster).

The 33-year-old Sooy is the ninth Democrat to enter the race against Kean, a top Democratic target in 2026. And while she’ll have some work to do to catch up to many of her primary opponents, her status as the only countywide elected official in the race and her political connections in Somerset County, which makes up around one-fifth of the 7th district’s electorate, are likely to instantly make her a serious contender.

“I have been serving the community in Somerset County for over ten years, and I trust that my experience and the relationships that I’ve been building, the work that I’ve done, will resonate,” Sooy told the New Jersey Globe. “And I’ll be able to be a formidable opponent.”

The 33-year-old Sooy, the daughter of former Bernardsville Mayor Kevin Sooy, got a remarkably early start in politics, joining her local school board at the age of 22. In 2018, Sooy was part of Somerset Democrats’ effort to flip seats on the county board of freeholders for the first time since 1979 – and she won, ousting a GOP incumbent and becoming the first Latina to ever serve on the board. (Sooy’s mother is an immigrant from Ecuador.)



https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/tom-kean-jr-gets-a-new-democratic-challenger-somerset-county-commissioner-sara-sooy/