Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ), a freshman swing district Democrat, is in a dead heat with Republican David Richter, according to a poll released on Wednesday.
Kim, who represents New Jersey’s Third Congressional District, leads Richter 45 to 42 percent, according to a Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) poll.
“We’re just getting started but it’s already a tight race,” Richter wrote this week.
The CLF poll, which was conducted by Basswood Research, found that Kim holds a narrow lead over Richter despite Richter having less than half of the name identification Kim has.
Richter also has a higher favorability ratio than Kim.
In the same district, President Donald Trump leads former Vice President Joe Biden by three points, with 49 percent in favor of Trump and 46 percent in favor of Biden.
Andrew Mamo, a spokesman for the Kim campaign, said in a statement on Wednesday that the voters trust Kim over Richter.
“The voters of Burlington and Ocean County know Andy; they trust him and they’ll support him for reelection this fall,” Mamo claimed. “They don’t know David Richter, but the more they see his failed record of putting himself before New Jersey, the more they’ll see he’s wrong for our district.”
Republicans believe they can flip New Jersey’s third district, which has not reelected a Democrat for a second term since 1852.
Kim, a former Obama White House staffer, barely defeated incumbent Rep. Tom MacArthur (R), winning by only 3,973 votes.
Kim represents one of the 13 congressional districts that Trump won by more than six percent during the 2016 presidential election but that House Democrats managed to flip during the 2018 midterms. Republicans only need to retake a net 17 seats to regain the House majority.
The CLF poll was conducted July 13 to 15, contacting 400 likely voters across New Jersey’s third district. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 4.9 percentage points.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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