Tom Malinowski interned for New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley. He went west for university and earned a Rhodes Scholarship at the University of California, Berkeley. He worked for New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then left to earn an M.Phil. from Oxford. He worked for the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and then the Ford Foundation. He worked in the State Department writing speeches for Secretaries of State Warren Christopher and Madelaine Albright. Under Clinton he became Senior Director of the National Security Council managing international communications and writing foreign policy speeches for the President. With Democrats out of office, he became the head of the Washington office of Human Rights Watch. For over a decade, he was a leading opponent of the US use of torture, of tyranny in Myanmar, and of groups like the Taliban.

Mikie Sherrill A graduate of the Naval Academy, she flew helicopters in the Middle East and in Europe. Married to a fellow Annapolis graduate, they now have four children. A Russian desk officer for the Navy in London, she added a Master's Degree from the London School of Economics. A graduate of Georgetown Law School, she has served as a prosecutor in the US Attorney's Office in New Jersey. She has proved to be a strong candidate and has raised a lot of money.

Jeff Van Drew is the candidate that locals wanted. He is the candidate that the establishment wanted. He is a state Senator. Has been a state Senator since 2008, representing a district that covers South Jersey -- a pretty large piece of territory for an urban, eastern state. He won by 10 points the first time, 20 points the second time, and 30 points the third time. He may be the best liked dentist in the state.