there are still more than a year to go before the next Congressional elections but New Jersey's 14 member delegation has already raised more than 43 million dollars for their campaigns nearly 8 million dollars of that coming just from this latest quarter One race could shape up into a costly fight and district 7 where candidates are lining up to challenge incumbent Republican Tom Kane Jr but can they flip this now red District blue senior correspondent Joanna gagus caught up with the candidates my campaign will be the dominant force and everyone else will sort of have to deal with that reality Sue alt means feeling confident in a strong start out the gate in her race against Tom Kane Jr for Congressional District Seven after raising two hundred thousand dollars within just the first month this race is about women's rights this race is about democracy this race is about the environment and it's about the economy Tom Kane Jr should not be in office he's not doing his job we should be in office because we represent the community and the majority of the views of the people in this District Altman a progressive who led the New Jersey Working Families party believes her message will resonate in this last true swing District in the state even though she's been on the left of many social issues like higher minimum wage and workers rights even calling out Governor Murphy at times are you too Progressive for this District I'm not too Progressive for this District the stuff that we worked on in at New Jersey Working Families for example 99 of the work we did was on anti-corruption stuff and pro-democracy stuff anti-corruption stuff that held both parties accountable but before she meets Kane in the ring she'll have to make it through the primary where she'll face off against Roselle Park mayor Joseph signorello who just threw his hat in the ring I have a track record of working across the aisle and working in competitive districts to make sure we flip that from red to blue when I got elected in Roselle Park I beat a 20-year incumbent Republican machine so I think it's going to take somebody that understands how to win in a red District because cd7 is a purple District that's gotten a little bit more red Democrats need to flip five seats to retake control of the house and their hopeful cd7 can be one of them especially because they say Kane hasn't done much since beating Tom malinowski two years ago but Kane has something signorello and Altman don't massive name recognition the name recognition with Tom Kane is a double-edged sword right so everybody knows Tom Kane senior and what the dad did and how great of a governor he was I think people are starting to learn what Tom Kane Jr is all about and I think people are left wanting he talks like he's a moderate he votes like a majority Taylor green signorello now has his sights set on Kane but before during this race he won he was for his senate seat now that malinowski is not running again in seven this might be the easier big name to beat we're going to make a case based on experience right based on folks that have run races and based on folks that have convinced moderates and convinced Republicans to vote Democratic I think he got 100 votes to be mayor so yeah he knows some town which is not not even in the district I'm sure that's somewhat transferable but I know this District by heart it's where I grew up it's where I'm from and it's the place I care about most in the whole world and there's still the possibility that former New Jersey senator Ray lesniak jumps in though he seems to enjoy keeping everyone guessing for now I put this together someone needs to leave because we need some leadership and I've been a leader of my entire life on Environmental Protection uh women's rights Animal Welfare but I am so much involved right now in what's going on in New Jersey I can wait until by the end of the year to make my decision the Dems will now battle for that coveted party line that ballot advantage that Altman was so adamantly against before entering the race who gets it will also get the fundraising Advantage needed to try to catch up to Kane who's sitting on 1.3 million right now to Altman's 200 000 and signorello 74 000. but even with the party line and heavy pocketbooks Democrats are competing in a district that was redrawn to all but guarantee Cana win you are not talking about neophytes in either candidate you're talking about candidates both of these candidates know how to press the conversation they aren't either way Tom Kane is going to be facing a very um spirited race a race that'll be the most watched in the state next year in Basking Ridge I'm Joanna Gagis NJ Spotlight news [Music] [Music]