One of the most closely watched congressional races in the United States is in New Jersey. It is the race between Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski and Republican Tom Kean Jr.

“This is the race that everybody is watching because it’s a 50-50 race,” says Malinowski. “Eight months ago, I was counted out. I was not considered endangered. I was just considered counted out.”

Malinowski was in Springfield on Thursday. But he is going throughout the district campaigning – a district that stretches across the state from Rahway to the Delaware River.

“This is a district of 90 small towns. There's no one place that anyone can concentrate if you want to win,” he says.

Meanwhile, Kean was rallying in Warren County this past weekend with the head of the Republican National Committee, who says the path to a Republican majority in Congress runs through New Jersey.

In a statement to News 12 Thursday, Kean's campaign highlighted the ongoing House Ethics Committee review of Malinowski's failure to disclose stock trades and said that Kean doesn't support a national abortion ban.

“He is for a 20-week abortion ban, which would override the laws of the state of New Jersey,” Malinowski says. “His presence in Washington D.C. enables them, would enable them, to have the majority and the power to do all of those things. To do those things to us.

Mingling with supporters at the Stage House Tavern in Mountainside. Malinowski says the stakes in the election are higher than just his seat.

“The most intense Congressional campaign in this part of the country,” he says. “We have a vastly superior ‘Get Out the Vote’ operation, our voters are more energized and enthusiastic because they don't want to lose their rights and freedoms.”