Megan O’Rourke, who served as a national science liaison for climate change at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is now mulling a bid for the Democratic nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 7th district.
O’Rourke has spoken with Democratic operatives about a campaign to take on Rep. Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield), the New Jersey Globe has confirmed.
The 46-year-old Blairstown native joined the Biden administration in 2020 after working as a Brookings Congressional Fellow and as a tenured associate professor at Virginia Tech. She worked in Cambodia as an environment advisor for USAID, and as an agricultural climate change advisor at the USDA.
She left her federal post two months ago.
“There has been a whirlwind of emotions since January 20: fear, anxiety, anger, confusion. But I remember back from before the election when I told my family that if Trump was elected, I would probably lose my job as a climate change scientist. I can’t say I didn’t see this coming,” O’Rourke said in a message to friends and colleagues. “Since January 20, my job duties have been stripped away one by one until I had no work left to do.”
With two months left in the third fundraising quarter, the window is narrowing for Democrats who are interested in taking on Kean. Former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett; former Biden administration official Michael Roth; businessman Brian Varela; physician and former Obama and Biden administration official Tina Shah; and former Summit Councilman Greg Vartan.
Bennett has raised $913,847 for her campaign so far. Varela has raised $693,883 (with the help of $400,000 in self-funding). Roth has raised $302,880, and $55,751 for Vartan. Shah entered the race after the Q2 filing deadline but announced that she raised more than $260,000 in just one day as a candidate.
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