In closely watched NJ House contest, Republican targets progressive challenger on Israel-Hamas war

As Americans woke up to the news of Hamas’ terror attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, New Jersey Democratic congressional candidate Sue Altman did what most mainstream politicians did: She expressed support for the Jewish state and called Hamas a terrorist organization.

“We will stand with Israel and her people as they fight to defend themselves and their sovereignty,” Altman posted on X, formerly Twitter, that morning.

Seven months later, Altman says she is still strongly pro-Israel but also critical of its prime minister as an “obstacle of peace.”

The far-off war in the Middle East has become the top Republican attack in the early part of the closely watched 7th District congressional contest, where Altman is taking on freshman Republican Tom Kean Jr. in New Jersey's only competitive House election. It reflects a broader challenge for Democrats at a time of intraparty division on American foreign policy: How to offer a complex position when political opponents stand resolutely by Israel’s side.

It could also be a test case of how the Israel-Hamas war will factor in swing districts with Republicans’ slim control of the House on the line in November. In closely watched House races in New York, the Israel-Hamas war and candidates’ positions on a cease-fire and humanitarian aid have taken center stage and could motivate voters.

Kean has taken a firmly pro-Israel position and is using Altman’s history in progressive activism to tie her to more pro-Palestinian stances from a group she used to work for and her progressive fellow travelers. Altman is betting that voters will accept a more nuanced take on the war, expressing overall support for Israel while criticizing its government and calling for more humanitarian aid in Gaza.

It’s all taking place amid a backdrop of college campus unrest over the issue, especially on the nearby campuses of Rutgers University and Princeton University.

Kean MacLelland, campaign manager for Kean for Congress, criticized Altman for meeting with the group Rutgers Democrats ahead of a planned protest, saying she showed she’s allowed herself “to be beholden to the most fringe elements of her party.” But she did not join any protest and the two events were unrelated.

The race between Kean and Altman is expected to be New Jersey’s most competitive come November, with millions spent in the suburban swing district that Kean narrowly won in 2022 when he ousted Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski. The district, which has slightly more Republicans than Democrats but includes many of the well-heeled suburban demographic who trended Democratic in the Trump era, will almost certainly see millions dumped into it as the parties fight to either flip or grow the tiny GOP House majority. New Jersey has one of the largest Jewish populations in the country.

Altman made a name for herself in New Jersey as a progressive activist and leader of the New Jersey Working Families Party who took on the most formidable Democratic political boss in the state at the time, George Norcross. Altman’s main fight was against billions of dollars in corporate tax breaks that had been shaped and utilized by Norcross and his allies. She was famously dragged out of a committee hearing where Norcross was lightly questioned over tax breaks by friendly lawmakers. Israel barely, if ever, came up in her work.

But now that Altman is the presumptive Democratic nominee, Kean is seeking to hold her to account for the Working Families Party’s position on the conflict and Altman’s alliances with politicians who have been critical of Israel, like House Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington.

Altman’s opponents also recently resurfaced comments by Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who in 2021 claimed that during a Working Families Party protest against his stance on the infrastructure bill organized by Altman, protesters yelled “Jew” at him (Protester Russell Miller, who’s Jewish and not a member of the Working Families Party later came forward and said he yelled to Gottheimer “Josh, as a Jew you should be ashamed of what you’re doing to Build Back Better” and called it a “shanda.”).

Altman had expected this and is seeking to thread the needle, distancing herself from some of the positions taken by her former employer while trying not to alienate the progressive base she sprang from. With little record of public statements on the issue, Altman worked quickly to try to establish a nuanced but pro-Israel position. Kean, taking a hard-line pro-Israel position, has called for the resignation of Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway for conceding to some of the demands of pro-Palestine protesters on his campus.

“It’s very sad that they’re using antisemitism as a wedge,” Altman said in a phone interview.

“I’ve been supportive of Israel. I am very frustrated with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, and people in this district can hold both of those things in their brains at once.”

While Altman did not immediately respond to the campus unrest, including at her alma mater Columbia University, she’s taken pains to establish positions on the conflict and establish pro-Israel bona fides.

In March, Altman shared a campaign position paper on Israel with Jewish Insider, stating that she supports Israel’s right to exist, American aid to Israel and a two-state solution while calling Hamas a terrorist organization that “must be dismantled.” It also stated that “The civilian death toll is nearly incomprehensible and is absolutely horrific, particularly given that half of the souls in Gaza are children.”

Of the Columbia University protests, Altman said there’s a “big difference between free speech and hate speech and protesting and chaos.” But she added that “the fastest way to make sure you escalate a situation is to crack down on it at the beginning," referring to police going in to clear the encampment.

While Altman hadn’t publicly weighed in much on Israel before her campaign, she’s familiar with it. She took a two-week bike trip across the country in 2010, when she was a history teacher at a New Jersey prep school.

“It really struck me how Israel occupies such a small space in the Middle East and has neighbors who don’t think it should exist at all,” Altman told POLITICO. “Just understanding the historical dynamics and firmly believing that Israel has a right to exist. I am concerned that there is some rhetoric right now that questions that … But I also think that Netanyahu is an obstacle to peace.”

Altman said she visited the museum Yad Vashem — Israel's official Holocaust memorial — and incorporated lessons from it into her teaching.

In her years working for the Working Families Party in New Jersey, Altman could only recall Israel coming up once. “I had a staffer who wanted to do a BDS piece in the state Legislature, and I told that person it was not something we were taking on. We had plenty of other work to do,” Altman said, referring to the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement against Israel.

But another Kean spokesperson, Harrison Neely, said in a statement that Altman will always owe her political career to “the fringes of the far left.”

“Her radical base of support will give her some wiggle room to mask as a moderate for the purposes of winning an election, but that leash is short. Sue Altman will always be beholden to the same folks who support these protests, and their interests will come before the constituents of NJ-07,” Neely said.

Altman said Kean is associated with extremists, noting that he — like most Republicans — cast a vote for the unsuccessful run for House speaker by far-right Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio following Kevin McCarthy’s ouster.

Altman said she’d be happy to discuss Israel and the Gaza conflict in an in-person debate with Kean, who also largely eschews interviews with the press.

“He’s choosing to throw stones on Twitter but won’t make any public appearance,” Altman said. “He certainly does not have the guts to debate me.”