Rumors swirl as vulnerable Republican vanishes in NJ

Politico reports New Jersey’s most vulnerable GOP U.S. congressman is mysteriously missing without contact after more than a month of no media contact.

“Rep. Tom Kean Jr. represents New Jersey’s most competitive district this November — but nobody, even his GOP colleagues, can say where he’s been for the past month,” report Politico writers Daniel Han and Mia McCarthy, adding that the New Jersey Republican hasn’t voted since March 5 and has missed almost 50 roll call votes.

Kean’s last vote was a bid to fund the Department of Homeland Security two months into an ongoing funding shutdown. NJ Spotlight News reports he has also missed committee markup sessions — meetings when members edit and vote on legislation — in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Spotlight reported that Kean’s chief of staff Dan Scharfenberger said on March 19 that the Republican was out “addressing a personal health matter.” But Politico reports Kean’s Republican comrades are puzzled over his lingering absence.

“I was looking for him,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), in an interview Wednesday. “I didn’t know it was that long.”

Even Democrats are beginning to worry about him with Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ) telling Politico that “It’s been a long absence. I hope he’s doing all right. But I haven’t heard anything.”

Kean slips away as Republicans face a shrinking house majority in the single digits, and Politico reports he represents Republicans; most defenseless House seat — the 7th Congressional District, which covers portions of the northern and central part of the state. And Kean, like other Republicans, are in for a punishing midterm as voters prepare to deliver a backlash to the GOP over President Donald Trump, as indicated by midterm results.

Even before Trump’s popularity plunged with the Iran war and other antics, Trump narrowly won Kean’s district by one point in the 2024 presidential race. Democratic former Rep. Mikie Sherrill has since carried the district by nearly two points in the 2025 governor’s race, reports Politico. Kean won the district himself by around five points in 2024.

“Kean enters reelection in what could be his most challenging congressional bid to date,” reports Politico. “He faces an environment that is increasingly challenging for Republicans and the Trump administration is opening an immigration detention facility in his district while pulling funding for a major infrastructure project for New Jersey commuters — both of which have put him in a precarious position.”