Megan O’Rourke, a climate scientist and the most recent addition to the Democratic field for New Jersey’s 7th congressional district, raised $247,168 during her first seven weeks running for the highly competitive district.
O’Rourke, who announced her campaign on August 7 and raised more than $175,000 within 24 hours of her launch, had $219,067 on-hand as of the end of September.
“As a former USDA climate scientist, I truly never imagined running for Congress,” O’Rourke said in a statement. “But the moment is too serious and the corruption and abuses of power are too severe to stay on the sidelines, and I am so grateful for the outpouring of support that our campaign has already received. This campaign is just getting started, and I know we will continue to build on this momentum to ensure that hardworking families in New Jersey have a representative who understands the economic struggle that people are facing and has shown a willingness to stand up and fight back against everything that’s wrong with Washington D.C.”
A native of Blairstown in rural Warren County, O’Rourke worked as a top climate scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture before quitting earlier this year amid the Trump administration’s “aggressive attacks” on her work.
She’s now one of eight Democrats competing for the opportunity to take on Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) in the 7th district, which has hosted closely watched elections every cycle since 2018 and is likely to do so once again in 2026. Also running are attorney Vale Mendoza, former Summit Councilman Greg Vartan, former Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett, physician Tina Shah, former Small Business Administration official Michael Roth, businessman Brian Varela, and criminal justice professor Beth Adubato.
So far, the Democratic field’s fundraising leader is Bennett, who has raised over $1.3 million since launching her campaign in February, while Shah raised more than $600,000 in the first three months of her campaign. All of the other candidates have yet to file their 3rd quarter reports; they’re due by October 15, by which point there will be a clearer picture of how the 7th district field is shaping up from a fundraising perspective.
The winner of the Democratic primary is likely in for an expensive general election; as of the end of July, Kean had more than $1.5 million in his campaign warchest.
