Next up in our "Know Your Candidates" series is Rep. Tom Malinowski. Tom was first elected to Congress in the 2018 "Blue Wave" midterms, replacing Leonard Lance in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District.

In our opinion, if a public servant of the highest caliber like Tom Malinowski were to be defeated and replaced by someone like Tom Kean, Jr. — who bears little resemblance to the beloved former governor who gave him his name — it would be one of the saddest stories to come out of this election cycle.

Rep. Malinowski is that rarest of creatures in public service, someone whose intellectual prowess and years of public policy and political experience in Washington have not rendered him the least bit out of touch. Tom gets out into his district, talks with everyone (regardless of political affiliation), and listens to their real concerns. He then fights for his constituents and their needs every bit as hard as he fights for their votes.

Tom's record speaks for itself in this regard.

*Like his counterpart Josh Gottheimer in the neighboring 5th Congressional District, Tom sits at the intersection of bipartisan policymaking on the Problem Solvers Caucus. For his efforts, Tom has been endorsed by not one but two political parties—the second being the nascent New Jersey Moderate Party, made up of centrists of all political stripes.

*He has been a central and pivotal figure in the development and passage of critically important legislation that truly serves the American people, including the infrastructure bill, the Chips and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Electoral Count Reform Act.

*He's spearheaded groundbreaking efforts to lower prescription drug costs and combat climate change, and was the primary sponsor of a bill designed to make sure smaller towns and counties — much like Sussex County and the places we call home here — got an equitable share of pandemic assistance.

We could go on…and on. The Newark Star-Ledger certainly does. Visit https://www.nj.com/.../the-star-ledger-endorsement-tom... for all of the details.

But we'd like to conclude by taking a measure of the two men seeking the privilege of representing NJ-7.

We are quite confident that Tom Malinowski is here for all of the right reasons. As a child, Tom was brought by his mother to the U.S. from Poland to escape the horrors of authoritarianism in the Soviet bloc. He has spent his life and dedicated his talents to advancing American democracy, giving back to the adopted country he loves so much and doing his very best to work on behalf of the people of the United States and New Jersey’s 7th District.

And Tom Kean, Jr.? We’re not sure why he’s here, other than to rubber stamp a truly extreme Trumpian agenda. After years of coasting on his father’s name and years of service to secure a truly unremarkable stint in the New Jersey legislature, it’s no wonder Mr. Kean has no idea how to do the work. He does not talk to his potential constituents unless it is part of a paid campaign event. He generally refuses to speak with the press. He relies on attack ads and shockingly duplicitous campaign web sites to do the talking. He apparently thinks that he can sit back and let the letter R next to his name do the heavy lifting, particularly because Sussex County is now part of the 7th district.

Sussex County, let’s take the next four days and prove to Mr. Kean just how wrong he is.

It will be a crying shame if we don’t.