SUMMIT – Greg Vartan, a former councilman in this Union County town, wants to go to Congress.

Vartan is the second Democrat to announce a run against Republican Thomas H. Kean Jr in CD-7.

In a message to Dems, Vartan boldly says:

“I’m running for Congress to win one of the most flippable seats in the nation and defeat extremist Tom Kean Jr.”

Whether CD-7, which ranges over at least parts of Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren counties, is truly flippable is a matter of debate.

Democrat Tom Malinowski won the district in 2018, ousting Leonard Lance, and won reelection over Kean in 2020.

But redistricting made the district more Republican.

Kean beat Malinowski in 2022 and last fall, he defeated Sue Altman by about 23,000 votes, which was a bit more than the GOP’s registration advantage.

Both Malinowski and Altman had enthusiastic grassroots support, but the Republicans’ numerical advantage was too much to overcome.

All elections, of course, are different. The Dems remember – quite happily – that they did very well in the 2018 midterms during Donald Trump’s first stay in the White House. That gives them hope for next year.

In an early appeal for support, Vartan says Kean will “rubber stamp” everything Trump wants and that he is running to:

“Defend our district from the people who want to strip us of our basic rights …”

Also in the race is Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, who announced her intentions last week.