Representative Tom Malinowski

Tomasz Pobóg “Tom” Malinowski (born September 23, 1965) is an American politician and former diplomat who represented New Jersey’s 7th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 3, 2019, to January 3, 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he also served as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in the administration of President Barack Obama. Over two terms in Congress, Malinowski participated actively in the legislative process during a period of significant political polarization in the United States, representing the interests of his suburban New Jersey constituents and emerging as a vocal opponent of President Donald Trump.

Malinowski was born in Poland and immigrated to the United States as a child, later becoming a naturalized American citizen. He grew up in the United States and pursued higher education with a focus on international affairs and public service, laying the groundwork for a career that would span human rights advocacy, diplomacy, and electoral politics. His early experiences as an immigrant and his academic training informed his later work on democracy promotion, human rights, and U.S. foreign policy.

Before entering Congress, Malinowski built a prominent career in foreign policy and human rights. He worked for Human Rights Watch, where he became Washington director and was involved in advocacy on issues such as torture, political repression, and the conduct of U.S. foreign policy toward authoritarian regimes. In the Obama administration, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, a position he held from 2014 until the end of the administration in January 2017. In that role, he oversaw U.S. efforts to promote democratic governance, civil liberties, and labor rights worldwide, and he represented the United States in international forums on human rights and democracy.

Malinowski decided to run for Congress in the aftermath of the 2016 election of Donald Trump, which he described as a sign that the United States was in “deep trouble.” On October 2, 2017, he announced his candidacy for New Jersey’s 7th congressional district in the 2018 midterm elections. He campaigned on protecting and improving the Affordable Care Act, supporting a public health insurance option while opposing a universal “Medicare for All” system, and he backed raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour and strengthening collective bargaining rights and worker protections. He also emphasized immigration policy, diplomacy, environmental protection, and infrastructure investment as central issues. In the June 5, 2018 Democratic primary, Malinowski defeated social worker Peter Jacob and lawyer Goutam Jois with 66.8 percent of the vote, winning all counties in the district.

In the November 6, 2018 general election, Malinowski ran against incumbent Republican Representative Leonard Lance. He won the race with 51.7 percent of the vote, defeating Lance by about five points. Each candidate carried three of the district’s six counties: Malinowski won Essex, Somerset, and Union Counties, while Lance carried Morris, Warren, and his native Hunterdon County. Malinowski’s decisive margins in the district’s portions of Somerset and Union Counties, the two most populous counties in the district, gave him a combined advantage of approximately 22,300 votes, exceeding his overall districtwide margin of about 16,200 votes. He took office on January 3, 2019, beginning the first of his two terms in Congress.

During his time in the House of Representatives, Malinowski served during a consequential period in American politics marked by the Trump presidency, impeachment proceedings, and the COVID-19 pandemic. As a representative from New Jersey’s 7th congressional district, he participated in the democratic process through committee work, floor votes, and the sponsorship and co-sponsorship of legislation, and he was known for his outspoken criticism of Donald Trump and of extremist movements. In the 2020 election cycle, he introduced a resolution condemning the QAnon conspiracy movement, after which he faced death threats. During the same campaign, the National Republican Congressional Committee aired advertisements falsely accusing him of having lobbied to protect sexual predators during his tenure at Human Rights Watch, charges he and his supporters vigorously rejected.

Malinowski sought reelection in 2020 and faced New Jersey Senate Republican leader Thomas Kean Jr. in a closely watched race. He was reelected by a narrow margin of 1.2 percentage points, in what became, in both absolute vote numbers and percentage, the closest U.S. House race in the country that year to be won by a Democrat. The tight margin left the outcome unresolved for weeks as mail-in and provisional ballots were counted. In 2022, Malinowski and Kean faced each other again in a rematch conducted under redrawn congressional district lines that were more favorable to Republicans. In that election, Kean defeated Malinowski by nearly two percentage points, ending Malinowski’s service in Congress on January 3, 2023. On May 23, 2023, Malinowski announced that he would not run against Kean in 2024.

After leaving Congress, Malinowski remained active in New Jersey Democratic politics. On April 26, 2024, he announced that he would run for the position of Hunterdon County Democratic chair. He was elected chair of the Hunterdon County Democratic Party on June 23, 2024, assuming a leadership role in organizing and guiding the party’s activities in a traditionally Republican-leaning county. He resigned from that position on November 6, 2025. That same month, in November 2025, Malinowski announced his candidacy for the 2026 special election in New Jersey’s 11th congressional district, seeking to return to the U.S. House of Representatives as the successor to Representative Mikie Sherrill.