Meet Rebecca Bennett, Navy Pilot, Healthcare Leader, And US House Candidate Running To Flip NJ-07

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]Welcome everyone, Simon Rosenberg back with a fun and exciting event today.

[00:00:05]Joining me is Rebecca Bennett who is running in New Jersey. We have a primary just in a few days. Welcome Rebecca. Thanks for being here.

[00:00:13]>> Thanks for having me on. I'm excited to chat with you today.

[00:00:16]>> Well, listen, your race has gotten some attention in recent days. Not only because you have an interesting opponent in the general election if you are to prevail in the primary, but also because the Republicans have gotten into this race and have decided that they they don't really want you to be their opponent in a few weeks. So talk to us.

[00:00:35]I wanted to we're going to we're endorsing you. We're getting behind your race. I'm asking the Hope you in community to help you close strong in these final days. Um talk just introduce yourself. Tell your story how you decided to go crazy and run for Congress and and and and I'm and you've got a great story to tell. So well, thanks for being here and I'm excited to have you here.

[00:00:55]>> Well, thank you. I joke sometimes, you know, you got to be a little crazy to be a Navy helicopter pilot. I got to be be a little crazy to want to run for office. So >> [laughter] >> but yeah, so you know, my background is that I really consider my life the story of the American dream because I was able to go to college on ROTC scholarship and then I use the GI bill for my MBA and my husband and I bought our house with the VA loan. But my background is that I'm a military veteran. I'm a former Navy helicopter pilot and test pilot. I'm a healthcare leader. I'm a mom of two. And I decided to join the military in the first place because I love this country and I wanted to serve and give back in some way and it ended on military service as a path to do that. And then from there decided to become a helicopter pilot because I grew up playing a lot of sports. I played a lot of soccer and for me everything I've ever done in my life has been about the people that I get to do it with. And so I served in the military for over 15 years. I led missions, people and teams all over the world. I spent most of my time on aircraft carriers, but I deployed on a couple of different kinds of ships. The helicopter that I flew by the way was the one that picked up the astronauts from the Artemis landing. Um which makes it much easier to describe now. Yeah, exactly. [laughter] Like everyone knows what that is now, you know, so much easier to describe.

[00:02:03]And then from there I moved into healthcare and I, you know, women's health is a passion area of mine. I worked in menopause, I worked in gastrointestinal care, I worked in oncology, but my focus has really been on how do we solve access issues, how do we bring cost of care down for patients and for all of us. And I'm also a mom to two girls and so for me really the reason why I'm doing this is because I love this country and so I was serving in the military the first time that Trump got elected back in, you know, 2016 and so for me that's really what led me to want to get involved in politics. And so when I got out of the military, I started volunteering as a grassroots volunteer. Just doing all the normal stuff, you know, door knocking and phone banking. And then it was after Harris lost in 2024 that I was like, "Okay, I have to go throw myself at this problem because no one's coming to save us. We have to save ourselves." And, you know, to your point it just so happened I was living in this purple moderate swing district that's going to be one of the most important races in the country and so I just wanted to do everything I could to fight for the version of the country that I want to leave for my daughter. So that is what led me down this path of doing it.

[00:03:04]>> Talk a little bit about the general election assuming that you get through the primary, which we will help you do in the coming days. Um, you know, what you've got a there's a you've got an unusual election ahead of you. And so why don't you talk a little bit about that?

[00:03:18]>> Yeah, so the incumbent is a two-term incumbent Republican is a guy named Tom Keen Jr. Just total empty suit. You know, he just hasn't done anything. You know, he really just has not shown up for the district and you all might have heard about it in the news recently because he's been missing since the beginning of March. And so, you know, I I wish him well. I think he has there's he's shared he has a medical condition so I sincerely hope he has a speedy recovery. But he's absolutely failing this district and you know, he was the deciding vote on the one big beautiful bill, which is why tens of thousands of people in our district are losing access to their health insurance. They're trying to put an ICE detention facility in our district. He was nowhere to be found when we were trying to keep that from going in. You know, and he also we are seeing issues with a bunch of infrastructure and you know, transportation in our district. And so he just really is not standing up and not fighting back for us. And so we are going to flip this seat in November.

[00:04:07]>> Well, and it's important to realize that one of the reasons, you know, we saw Republicans, they know the house is likely to flip. And so one of the things they did was all this illicit mid-district mid-decade redistricting and now it's happening the Supreme Court. But in recent weeks they've adopted a second sort of illicit tactics where they've now started looking at knocking out the the candidates in Democratic primaries who they feel are the most formidable and most likely to win in these swing districts.

[00:04:35]And given how vulnerable the your incumbent the incumbent is that he's disappeared for months with no explanation, I think Republicans are really panicking about this district.

[00:04:45]And so they've gone all in against you in recent days. I mean, I've been a little surprised actually about how aggressive it's really been. Can you talk about how that's manifesting in the race now?

[00:04:57]>> Yeah, of course. You know, I mean, I will just say we saw this super PAC pop up last week. And you know, we've seen this to your point, we've seen this in other races around the country. And so as soon as we saw it, I thought, oh no.

[00:05:08]You know, and so basically they've put in over $650,000 in attack ads against me right now. I mean, it's all lies. I mean, one of the mailers they sent out was just like really crappy AI generated version of me which I'm like, guys, you should probably upgrade from like the freemium chat GPT if you're going to be like sending out like attack ads about me, you know? But I mean, it's a it's a lot of money. And so, you know, $650,000 is no joke and we've seen this in other races where they spent over a million dollars basically trying to put their thumb on the scale because they know that I am our best shot at being able to flip this seat. And so, you know, that's where they picked a fight with the wrong person and they picked a fight with the wrong district. And so, you know, we're basically doing everything we can to push back on them. but yeah, I mean, it's it's a lot of money that they're putting in right now.

[00:05:50]>> Well, and people may not realize the reason this matters so much is that often times primary candidates don't have the same amount of money as general election candidates. It's money in the district that's getting split among multiple candidates. So, when they come in with a half a million, million dollar buy, this is a lot of money in the race, you know, in in in a race like this. It may not seem like a lot of money in the grand scheme of things.

[00:06:13]But, you know, primary candidates are spending a million bucks, two million bucks, you know, $500,000 over months.

[00:06:20]So, these kinds of things can actually really tip the balance. I mean, we just saw in Texas, just so everybody understands, in this Texas, Johnny Garcia who won uh this week in Texas in the primary because of their spending, his opponent, this crazy anti-Semitic um candidate in Texas 35, actually got more votes than he did in the in the primary.

[00:06:42]He ended up winning the runoff, but that's the kind of impact these buys can have. This is no joke. I mean, they are really spending enough money in their minds to be able to influence the outcome of the primary.

[00:06:54]>> Yeah. Yeah, and to your point, you know, this is one of the only actual toss-ups we have in the country. And so, this really is one of the most important races to be able to take back the house.

[00:07:04]And you know, the attack ads they're sending out are literally just don't vote anybody but Rebecca basically is what they're saying. And you know, like, yeah, you guys should be scared of me is cuz we're going to flip the seat in November. So, but yeah, no, it is real.

[00:07:14]It's a lot of money.

[00:07:15]>> Um and any any closing thoughts? I know I we only got you for a few minutes cuz you are in the final days of your campaign. I mean, what else do you want people to know about the race and about um this and I want to say to my community, we don't endorse in primaries very often. We've only endorsed in a few, but this is such a winnable race and and the Republicans are telling us that they know this is winnable because of the amount of money they're spending right now against you. And so therefore, we have to act to make sure we can preserve this opportunity that they're so scared about. And so any closing thoughts or anything that you want people to know about before I let you get back in your car and get on with your campaigning.

[00:07:58]>> Yeah, I'll just leave you all with this, which is I really, first of all, want to thank you for having me on. Thank you to everybody who is listening and for folks that are able to chip in, it is incredibly helpful. You can go to my website or at rebeccawinnerforcongress.com to find out more or follow me on social at rebeccafornj07.

[00:08:14]But, you know, I'll just leave you with all of this, which is it is a scary time in this country, but I am so encouraged by seeing how many of us are stepping up and fighting back and fighting for the version of the country that we are going to leave for my daughters and, you know, everybody that's watching, your kids and grandkids and the next generation. And I am still optimistic that we can make sure that we are leaving this country better off than we found it and there is a future past this era of Trump. And so I'm still optimistic that, you know, we're we our brightest days are still ahead of us and it's about all of us coming together to fight for that vision.

[00:08:47]>> Amen to that. I mean, we talk about how the great mission here at Hope PM is that we want to make sure, and paraphrasing Lincoln, that there's a a new birth of freedom here and everywhere around the world and we share your optimism. We're not going to let go of that under despite the darkness of the days and really glad to be on your team, Rebecca. Excited to help you win next week and then win the general in November.

[00:09:11]>> Thank you so much. It was a pleasure chatting with you all.

[00:09:14]>> Okay, everybody. Um, you know, we don't do this very often, but, you know, I this one matters. We can't let one of the most important pick up opportunities in the country slip away from us. The Republicans are telling us that they're scared of her by the amount of money they're spending. That's why we're jumping in here today cuz they are desperate to preserve their majority.

[00:09:36]They're using every tactic in the book.

[00:09:38]They've begun this new set of tactics about interfering in our primaries.

[00:09:42]We're not going to let it stand. We're going to stand by Rebecca, who's a terrific candidate, and we're going to go win this thing next week, and we're going to go win this thing in November.

[00:09:50]Hit like so more people can see this.

[00:09:52]She's a great candidate. Hit subscribe if you're new to Hopeium. And keep working hard, everybody. We have a country to save and elections to win together. Thank you.