Election Work: The Midterms
Tension was high in the lead-up to the 2022 congressional midterms. Who would win the House? Who would win the Senate? Any combination of red and blue was possible — though we knew that, historically, whichever party holds the White House suffers significant losses.
There was no room to play around. We mustered our forces and threw our best efforts behind congressional candidates we believed in.
In June, BlueWaveNJ held a successful fundraising meet-and-greet with Congressman Andy Kim, who came all the way to Montclair from his CD3 home in South Jersey to spend the afternoon with us … with his kids in tow!
Our other targets were Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill in CD11 and Congressman Tom Malinowski in CD7. Sherrill faced a challenge from Republican Paul DeGroot, while Malinowski had to contend with a repeat challenge from Republican state senator Tom Kean, Jr., in a district that turned significantly redder after the 2021-22 redistricting.
BlueWaveNJ doggedly recruited its network of volunteers to canvass, phone bank, text bank, and postcard to support Sherrill and Malinowski, as well as our other endorsed candidates.
In addition to the efforts of our dedicated volunteers, BlueWaveNJ conducted a determined independent-expenditures campaign of postcards and digital ads to educate voters in CD7. These initiatives focused on healthcare issues — especially reproductive rights and the Dobbs decision — that would play well for Malinowski, a steadfast abortion-rights defender. The more people understood about changes to abortion rights, the easier it would be to drive pro-choice voters to the polls.
OUR DIGITAL AD CAMPAIGN: For this initiative, BlueWaveNJ targeted a strategically-selected cohort of 10,500 voters in CD7. Before Election Day, we were able to serve 336,746 digital ads to educate them about the power of their vote to protect freedom of choice.
OUR HEALTHCARE POSTCARD CAMPAIGN: Our “Malinowski vs. Kean” postcards contrasted the candidates’ positions on healthcare issues: abortion, contraception, drug pricing, and ACA premiums. With the help of our partner groups, we distributed 3,000 healthcare cards at train stations, and mailed 7,000 to a targeted cohort of voters. 
We also sent 5,000 postcards focused on environmental issues to a strategically selected group of CD7 voters.
BlueWaveNJ is pleased that Representatives Payne, Kim, and Sherrill were all victorious, with Sherrill winning by a remarkable 19%.
Tom Malinowski’s defeat in CD7 was a hard loss. Our strategic approach and the valiant efforts of our volunteers were just not enough to overcome the district’s demographic shift during redistricting. However, the campaign experience and our hardwon knowledge of the new turf will make us more effective in 2024!