If former Assistant Secretary to Secretary of State John Kerry Tom Malinowski were to snag the Democratic nomination for Congress in the 7th District next year and dethrone U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-7) (two big ifs), he would represent a first in the district.

The residents of the much-changed 7th District through the years have had war veterans, local and county elected officials, bankers, lawyers, and grassroots community people represent them. But Of the 24 people who have served as congressperson from the 7th, none had a background in international diplomacy.

Malinowski – who will have the added encumbrance of being perceived early as a carpetbagger – would be the first.

Another fun fact is that there is certainly precedent for newspaper reporters and publishers in the district.

Consider this, between 1883 and 1911, four congressmen from the 7th District had backgrounds in newspapers. Allan Langdon McDermott worked as a reporter; Edward W. Townsend (pictured) worked as a reporter and authored the popular “Chimmie Fadden” Bowery Boy stories; Robert Bremmer worked as a reporter and owned and published the Passaic Herald; and Dow H. Drukker was publisher of the Herald News.