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Today, former George W. Bush EPA regional administrator Alan J. Steinberg broke down Tom Kean Jr.’s poor record on guns and abortion writing, “on both reproductive freedom and gun control that has the potential to severely vitiate his ability to gain support from women voters in his campaign.”
Read the full column here and highlights below:
Kean’s Abortion and Guns Record: Its Impact on Women Voters
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The issue of reproductive choice is always of some significance in Congressional and state legislative campaigns in New Jersey, particularly among women voters. A woman is more particularly impacted by this issue than a male voter because it involves what choice options she will have in the event of an unwanted or health dangerous pregnancy.
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Gun violence is obviously a highly salient issue to all voters, but more particularly to women because of the frequency of deaths of women caused by men perpetrators of gun violence. Women voters tend to be far more inclined than men to vote for candidates who favor common sense gun control laws, including reasonable restraints on the number of guns one may purchase, magazine limitations, and clearance requirements on the right to carry concealed weapons.
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Recent events have vastly increased the salience of both issues. It is the combination of the records of former Republican State Senator Tom Kean, Jr., on both reproductive freedom and gun control that has the potential to severely vitiate his ability to gain support from women voters in his campaign to unseat incumbent Democratic 7th District Congressman Tom Malinowski.
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The significance of the reproductive freedom issue to women voters has escalated dramatically due to the apparent likelihood that the US Supreme Court will reverse its 1973 precedential decision on Roe v. Wade. A Roe reversal would thereby eliminate its constitutional protection of a woman’s reproductive freedom choice during the first two trimesters of a pregnancy.
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There is only one way of absolutely protecting a woman’s right to choose from elimination by either federal or state court ukase. That is by legislative codification of the constitutional right to freedom of reproductive choice. The New Jersey legislature and Governor Phil Murphy achieved this protection by the enactment in January, 2022 of S49, the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act.
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Tom Kean, Jr. voted against this legislation and the constitutional protection it provides women on reproductive freedom. The negative effect of this vote on his ability to gain support from women of both political parties is obvious.
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The salience of the gun issue has increased astronomically due to the national wave of gun violence during the first two months of this year. The issue of crime can strengthen the case for either party, depending on the context. When gun violence is the context, the crime issue becomes one that favors the Democrats, due to their emphasis on gun control.
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With respect to Kean’s positions regarding reasonable gun control restraints, including limitations on magazine, gun purchases, and restrictions on the right to carry concealed weapons, the following tells the reader the entire story. The National Rifle Association (NRA) Victory Fund gave Tom Kean, Jr. these ratings for the following election cycles: an A+ rating (100 percent) for 2017.
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Having a record that intentionally or unintentionally promotes the NRA agenda on guns is a major negative for Kean’s electability. The New Jersey electorate is very pro-gun control in Democratic-leaning districts like the 7th. Throughout America, the NRA reputation is one of political toxicity, due to personal scandals in their leadership, and polls reflect this decline in the ethical reputation of the NRA.
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