By Matt Rooney
Rebecca Bennett wants voters to see daylight between her and the Democratic Party’s socialist wing.
They shouldn’t have to bring a flashlight, Save Jerseyans.
During Sunday’s NJ-07 debate, moderator David Wildstein asked Bennett to identify an incumbent House Democrat she couldn’t support if she lived in that member’s district. She failed to name one, pivoting instead to her military background. The more consequential question is how often she would help those same Democrats enact their agenda. Judging by her published priorities, they would have plenty to work on together.
Start with the money. In her Indivisible Lambertville/New Hope questionnaire, Bennett proposed reversing Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and using the revenue to reverse provisions of his signature legislation. At the debate, she described using revenue to lower healthcare premiums and cap childcare costs.
Raise taxes at the top. Expand government-supported benefits. Sell the package as “affordability.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would recognize the approach. Her economic agenda celebrates higher corporate taxes, and her opposition to Trump’s spending legislation likewise centers on healthcare cuts and benefits for the wealthy. Their proposals may or may not differ in scope, but their priorities substantially overlap.
Energy follows the same pattern. Bennett wants to preserve billions in environmental grants, incentivize solar installations and electric vehicles, and restore energy tax incentives. AOC touts the Inflation Reduction Act’s massive federal climate investment. Both favor using federal policy and public resources to accelerate preferred energy technologies.
Bennett’s sales pitch is lower bills. The mechanism remains Washington picking winners and subsidizing them.
On healthcare, Bennett promises to reverse Republican Medicaid cuts and expand support for services. AOC opposes those cuts, too. Whatever their ultimate ambitions, they occupy substantial common ground in the immediate fight over federal healthcare spending.
Bennett’s own comments further complicate her effort to present herself as someone who rises above partisan divisions.
At a February campaign event, in audio reported by the *Washington Free Beacon* and previously covered by Save Jersey, Bennett described temporarily stopping church attendance after Trump’s election.
“I cannot sit in this church full of people who voted for Trump,” she recalled thinking. She then explained that she ultimately decided Trump supporters should not get to define Christianity or patriotism.
Her own account described political disagreement becoming a reason to avoid worshipping alongside fellow congregants. Sharing a pew with Trump voters was a problem. Naming one unacceptable House Democrat proved difficult.
Each episode gives voters reason to scrutinize the independence she is selling.
Nobody needs to pretend Bennett and AOC are identical. The relevant question is whether Bennett would provide a meaningful check on the Left’s nakedly socialist legislative priorities.
On taxes, healthcare spending, and green-energy subsidies, her platform offers ample evidence of agreement.
A softer delivery doesn’t change what Congress would be asked to pass.
If Bennett wants credit for moderation, she should identify the expensive demands from her own side that she would actually reject.
A résumé isn’t an answer. Neither is a makeover.
