Incumbent

As a result of the revision of its boundaries following the 2000 Census, the Seventh District now follows a rather irregular path, stretching from the Pennsylvania border, crossing the middle of the State, dipping down to include the Somerset County towns to the County's southern border north of Princeton, and on its eastern border reaching into the western suburbs of Union County. The Middlesex County portions are the heaviest in Democratic voter registration, but they are outweighed by Republican-leaning residents in the more affluent suburbs of Union and Somerset counties and the more rural towns of Hunterdon. The 2000 US Census reported that Hunterdon County led all New Jersey counties with the highest median household income of $79,888 compared to the statewide median household income of $55,146; Hunterdon’s per capita personal income of $51,018 in 2000 was the 13th highest in the nation.

The District includes the former corporate headquarters of AT&T in Bedminster, which is now occupied by Verizon Communications. AT&T continues to be a major employer, but at much reduced levels from its peak New Jersey employment of over 50,000 workers. Other large employers located in the District or employing large number of District residents include The Chubb Corporation, one of the nation's leading insurers based in Warren; ExxonMobil, which maintains its 500-acre Corporate Strategic Research Center in Clinton, one of its six major research and development facilities in the nation; Siemens Corp., the German electronics manufacturer with various facilities in Middlesex County; Sanofi-Aventis Pharmaceuticals, the new firm formed by the 2004 takeover of Switzerland's Aventis by the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi; Avaya, the telecommunications systems and software supplier spun off in 2000 as an independent firm from Lucent Technologies; and Reed Elsevier, the global publishing and information services firm based in the United Kingdom with an office complex in New Providence.

Flooding of the Green Brook subbasin of the Raritan River Basin has affected large portions of the District, with two deaths resulting from flooding as a result of Tropical Storm Floyd in September 1999. The US Army Corps of Engineers is currently implementing segments of a 12-year, $366 million flood control project covering 65 square miles and portions of 13 municipalities that will build levees and deepen channels, as well as buy out properties in high-hazard areas.The 2000-acre Round Valley Reservoir in Lebanon Township, part of the State Park system, is approximately 180 feet deep, the deepest lake in New Jersey. It has a water capacity of 55 billion gallons and is stocked by the State with lake trout.

Congressman Leonard Lance, previously a State Senator and former Senate Republican Minority Leader, is a member of the House Financial Services Committee. In the 2008 general election, he was elected to his first term by defeating Democrat Linda Stender, Deputy Speaker of the State Assembly, by a 51%-42% margin. While in the State Legislature, Congressman Lance was a frequent critic of State government fiscal and budgetary policies. In 2004, he successfully sued Governor James McGreevey on the issue of borrowing without voter approval before the State Supreme Court and in 2008 New Jersey voters approved the “Lance Amendment” to the State Constitution, which requires all future borrowing to be approved by the voters. He also led the effort to require funding for open space preservation and was the prime sponsor of the measure that established funds for the New Jersey Cultural Trust. The Congressman was the third generation of his family to serve in the New Jersey Legislature, following his great-uncle, H. Kiefer Lance, and his father, Wesley L. Lance.