The Democratic congressional nominee has made housing affordability a campaign priority, but property-record reporting shows she moved into a Bridgewater rental after launching her campaign while retaining ownership of her Montgomery Township home.
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — Rebecca Bennett has made housing affordability one of the central themes of her campaign for Congress, calling for more construction and lower costs for both buyers and renters. It seems like the people who wag their fingers most about equity and fairness are always the ones bending rules to suit themselves.
Her own housing arrangement has now become part of the race.
Bennett launched her campaign for New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District in February 2025 while living in Montgomery Township, just outside the district. At the time, she told the New Jersey Globe that she would move into NJ-7 if she won.
Instead, Bennett moved into the district during the campaign, sort of. She kept her home in Montgomery but is now renting in Bridgewater.
She now lives with her family in Bridgewater, but reporting based on property records indicates that the home she occupies there is rented while she continues to own the Montgomery Township house where she lived before entering the race, according to the Washington Reporter. Who is she renting the home to has not been disclosed.
Bennett Bought Her Montgomery Home, Then Moved Into a Rental During Her Run for Congress
Bennett has spoken publicly about buying her New Jersey home after she and her husband left active military service. It seems like a fiscally irresponsible move.
In a March essay outlining her housing platform, Bennett wrote that the couple purchased their home using a VA loan and described it as “the foundation of our financial stability.”
She used that experience to argue that more New Jersey families should be able to afford homeownership, even if they just want to rent that home out, despite using a federal program to purchase it.
Her campaign says Bennett would work in Congress to cut permitting barriers, increase housing construction and make homes more affordable for buyers and renters.
The Move Came After She Entered the Race
The timing is straightforward.
Bennett moved to New Jersey in 2019 and established her family in Montgomery Township. She grew up in Texas and said she and her husband moved to New Jersey to be near family.
She announced her congressional campaign in February 2025 while still living there. The New Jersey Globe reported at the time that Montgomery was just outside NJ-7 and quoted Bennett saying she would relocate into the district if elected.
Renting in the District Is Entirely Legal
Nothing about the arrangement violates congressional residency requirements, but it raises a lot of questions regarding intent and honesty. If she loses, is she going to abandon her new rental and move back into the house she actually owns?
A candidate does not have to own property in the district, and renters are residents just as homeowners are if that is where they actually live.
In fact, the U.S. Constitution does not require a House member to live within the congressional district at all. A representative must be an inhabitant of the state at the time of election.
Bennett therefore could legally have continued living in Montgomery while running in NJ-7, but the optics would have been bad, and she knows that.
The question raised by the housing arrangement is political rather than legal: she chose to relocate into the district after becoming a candidate while keeping the house she already owned outside it.
Housing Is One of Bennett’s Signature Issues
That distinction has attracted attention because Bennett has made the cost of housing a major part of her campaign.
Her campaign’s affordability platform says New Jersey needs to “increase housing supply and construction” and make housing more affordable for both buyers and renters.
In an interview with WHYY, Bennett similarly identified affordability as a top priority and said she supports increasing housing construction throughout the state.
Republicans Are Highlighting the Arrangement
Republican groups supporting Rep. Tom Kean Jr. have characterized Bennett’s Bridgewater move as evidence that she relocated primarily because she was running for Congress and suggest her move and interest in CD-7 is purely political.
The National Republican Congressional Committee has repeatedly pointed to the timing of the move and the fact that she retained her Montgomery home.
Bennett’s competing account is that she has lived in New Jersey since 2019, has been raising her family in Somerset County for years and now considers Bridgewater her home.
What the Record Shows
The underlying chronology is less disputed than the political arguments surrounding it.
Bennett grew up in Texas, moved to New Jersey in 2019 and bought a home in Montgomery Township. She launched her NJ-7 campaign while living outside the district, later moved into a rented residence in Bridgewater and, according to property-record reporting, retained ownership of the Montgomery home.
