Tom Malinowski | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2019 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew Jersey's7th district | |
| In office January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Leonard Lance |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Kean Jr. |
| 12thAssistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor | |
| In office April 3, 2014 – January 20, 2017 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Deputy | Virginia L. Bennett |
| Preceded by | Michael Posner |
| Succeeded by | Robert Destro |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Tomasz Pobóg Malinowski (1965-09-23)September 23, 1965 (age 60) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Blair Clark (stepfather) |
| Education | University of California, Berkeley (BA) St Antony's College, Oxford (MPhil) |
| Signature |  |
Tomasz Pobóg "Tom" Malinowski (/ˌmælɪˈnaʊskiː/; born September 23, 1965)[1] is an American politician and former diplomat who served as theU.S. representative fromNew Jersey's 7th congressional district from 2019 to 2023. ADemocrat, he served asAssistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in theObama administration.
A vocal opponent ofDonald Trump, Malinowski was first elected in2018, defeatingRepublican incumbentLeonard Lance by five points.[2][3] He was reelected in2020 by narrow margin againststate SenateMinority LeaderThomas Kean Jr.[4] In a2022 rematch, Kean defeated Malinowski by nearly two points.
On April 26, 2024, Malinowski announced that he would run for theHunterdon County Democratic Chair post.[5] On June 23, 2024, Malinowski was elected as Chair of the Hunterdon County Democratic party, succeeding Arlene Quinones Perez.[6] He resigned as Chair on November 6, 2025 and was replaced by Clinton Mayor Janice Kovach as interim Chair.[7]
In November 2025, he announced his campaign for the2026 special election in New Jersey's 11th congressional district. He is seeking to return to the House of Representatives to succeedMikie Sherrill.[8]
Malinowski was born inSłupsk,Poland, and lived inBrwinów until leaving the country at the age of six with his mother, Joanna, who married journalist and a political operatorBlair Clark. He was raised inPrinceton, New Jersey, and graduated fromPrinceton High School in 1983, where he wrote for the school newspaperThe Tower and was an intern in SenatorBill Bradley's office.[1] Malinowski received abachelor of arts inpolitical science from theUniversity of California, Berkeley, in 1987, where he won aHarry S. Truman Scholarship in 1985,[9] and in 1991, amaster of philosophy fromSt. Antony's College, Oxford, where he was aRhodes Scholar.[1][10]
Malinowski worked as a special assistant to U.S. SenatorDaniel Patrick Moynihan in 1988. He worked for theInstitute for Human Sciences inVienna,Austria, and later, as aresearch assistant for theFord Foundation in 1993.[10] From 1994 to 1998, Malinowski was aspeechwriter for U.S. Secretaries of StateWarren Christopher andMadeleine Albright as well as a member of thePolicy Planning Staff at theDepartment of State.[11] From 1998 to 2001, Malinowski served as senior director on theNational Security Council at theWhite House.[10][11]
From 2001 to 2013, Malinowski was the Washington director forHuman Rights Watch.[10][11][12] In this position, he advocated for the end oftorture techniques andblack sites used by the U.S. government during thewar on terror.[13][14][15] He campaigned fordemocratic reforms inMyanmar and financial sanctions on its leadership.[16][17] Malinowski argued for the recognition ofwomen's rights as a precondition to any peace talks with theTaliban.[18] He also pushed for ano-fly zone inSyria during the ongoingcivil war.[19]
Some saw Malinowski[20][21] as a likely nominee forAssistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, but his previous registration as a lobbyist while at Human Rights Watch necessitated a waiver from the president. On July 8, 2013, during Obama's second term, Malinowski was nominated to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.[22][23] He testified before theSenate Foreign Relations Committee on September 24, 2013,[24] and was confirmed by theU.S. Senate on April 2, 2014.[25][26][27] According to columnistJennifer Rubin, leaders from both parties praised Malinowski in 2014 for his defense of human rights and his work toward ending torture.[28]
In 2016, Malinowski said the State Department planned to release a list ofNorth Korean human rights abusers.[29] He backed theUnited Nations' efforts to investigate possiblewar crimes committed during theSri Lankan Civil War.[30] He assisted with sanctioning Russian officials under theMagnitsky Act for human rights abuses.[31]
In July 2014,Bahrain'sgovernmentexpelled Malinowski after he met with members of aBahraini opposition group during a scheduled visit.[32][33] The foreign ministry of Bahrain asserted that his meeting was an improper intervention in the country's affairs but said the incident would not affectBahrain–U.S. relations.[32] TheU.S. State Department released a statement of concern about the actions whileSecretary of StateJohn Kerry called Bahrain's actions unacceptable and contrary to diplomatic protocol.[32][34][35] Malinowski returned to Bahrain in December 2014 with theassistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs.[36][37]
Following the end of his tenure at the State Department, Malinowski joined fellow former Obama officials to lobby Congress to prevent theTrump administration from lifting thesanctions onRussia following itsannexation of Crimea.[38] He criticizedDonald Trump for having an "obscene fondness" for the world's tyrants and for instituting a "complete departure from decades of American tradition".[12]
On October 2, 2017, Malinowski announced his candidacy forNew Jersey's 7th congressional district in the2018 midterm elections.[39] He decided to run for Congress after the2016 election of Donald Trump, which he saw as an indication that America was in "deep trouble".[40] Malinowski cited health care, immigration, diplomacy, environmental policy, and infrastructure as areas of focus.[41]
Malinowski supports theAffordable Care Act and criticized the Republican Party's attempts to dismantle it.[42] He supports a public health insurance option, but opposes Medicare for all.[43] He supports raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour as well as stronger collective bargaining rights and protections for workers.[44]
In the June 5 Democraticprimary election, Malinowski defeated social worker Peter Jacob and lawyer Goutam Jois with 66.8% of the vote, winning all counties in the district.[45][46][47]
Malinowski won the November 6 general election with 51.7% of the vote. He and Lance each carried three of the district's six counties; Malinowski won Essex, Somerset, and Union, while Lance carried Morris, Warren, and his native Hunterdon. But Malinowski won the district's shares of Somerset and Union counties, the two most populous counties in the district, by 22,300 votes, which exceeded the overall margin of 16,200 votes.[48][49]
During his reelection campaign, Malinowski faced death threats after introducing a bill condemning the conspiratorial groupQAnon.[50] TheNational Republican Congressional Committee then aired ads falsely accusing him of lobbying to protect sexual predators when he worked for Human Rights Watch.[51]
Malinowski was reelected, defeating New Jersey Senate Republican leaderTom Kean Jr. by 1.2%. Due to the very close margin, the election remained unresolved for weeks. In terms of both absolute numbers and vote percentage, Malinowski's race was the closest House race in the country to be won by a Democrat.[52]
Malinowski unsuccessfully[53] ran for reelection in the district for the2022 elections[54] in a rematch against Tom Kean Jr. He announced on May 23, 2023 that he would not run against Kean in 2024.[55]
When he took office in January 2019, Malinowski became the first Democrat to represent the 7th since 1956.[56]
Malinowski was the first member of the New Jersey House delegation to call to begin theimpeachment inquiry against Trump in May 2019.[57] He endorsed Democratic presidential nomineeJoe Biden in January 2020.[58]
During his first term, Malinowski advocated for efforts to prohibit weapons sales to Saudi Arabia for use in theYemen conflict.[59] He also advocated for accountability related to Saudi Arabia's role in the murder ofJamal Khashoggi.[60] His work contributed to the release of the Khashoggi Report and the subsequentKhashoggi ban.
American video game companyActivision Blizzard punished aHong Kong-based professional gamer for supporting pro-democracyHong Kong protests. Malinowski accused Blizzard andApple ofcensorship.[61] He co-signed a letter to Activision Blizzard CEOBobby Kotick that read, "As China amplifies its campaign of intimidation, you and your company must decide whether to look beyond the bottom line and promote American values—like freedom of speech and thought—or to give in to Beijing's demands in order to preserve market access."[62]
TheAmerica COMPETES Act legislation, passed by the House in February 2022, included provisions Malinowski wrote.[63] He was subsequently appointed to the conference committee that finalized the bill.[citation needed]
In April 2021, theAssociated Press reported that Malinowski had traded approximately $1 million of stock in medical and tech companies involved in theCOVID-19 pandemic response.[64][65] Malinowski failed to disclose the trades within the period of time required by federal law; he said the failure to disclose the trades was an error.[66][67] Two complaints were filed against him with theOffice of Congressional Ethics, which announced in October 2021 that it found "substantial reason to believe" that Malinowski had violated federal laws designed to defend against conflicts of interest. The Office of Congressional Ethics formally referred its Malinowski investigation to the House Committee on Ethics, which continued its own investigation.[68] The House Ethics Committee's investigation into Malinowski's stock trading is ongoing.[69]
As of June 2022, Malinowski had voted in line withJoe Biden's stated position 98.2% of the time.[70]
| Year | Democratic | Votes | Pct | Republican | Votes | Pct | 3rd Party | Party | Votes | Pct | 3rd Party | Party | Votes | Pct | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Tom Malinowski | 166,985 | 51.7% | Leonard Lance (incumbent) | 150,785 | 46.7% | Diane Moxley | Green | 2,676 | 0.8% | Gregg Mele | Independent | 2,296 | 0.7% | |||||
| 2020 | 219,629 | 50.6% | Thomas Kean Jr. | 214,318 | 49.4% | ||||||||||||||
| 2022 | 150,701 | 48.6% | 159,392 | 51.4% |
in September 2017, Malinowski moved toRocky Hill, New Jersey, close to where he grew up.[76] In 2020, he moved to theRingoes section ofEast Amwell Township, New Jersey.[77]
Malinowski's stepfatherBlair Clark was a journalist, a broadcast executive, and a political operator. Clark's sister wasAnne Martindell, a member of theNew Jersey State Senate (1974–1977) and aUnited States ambassador to New Zealand (1979–1981).[78]
Malinowski has faced charges related to driving on a suspended license.[79]
Malinowski has one daughter.[80]
On March 28, 2023, Malinowski joined theMcCain Institute.[81] On April 13, 2023, he joined the board of directors ofRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.[82]
On April 26, 2024, Malinowski announced he would be running forHunterdon County Democratic Chairman.[83] He won the election on June 23, 2024.[84]
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Uzra Zeya Acting | Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor 2014–2017 | Succeeded by Virginia L. Bennett Acting |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew Jersey's 7th congressional district 2019–2023 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
