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To: Interested Parties
From: DCCC Regional Press Secretary Eli Cousin
Date: June 13, 2026
Subject: 100 Days Into His Unexplained Absence, Tom Kean Jr. Has Deeply Damaged His Own Reelection Odds
It’s been 100 days since vulnerable Republican Congressman Tom Kean Jr. was last seen in person or on camera. In that time, Kean Jr. has missed 135 votes in Washington while refusing to be transparent with his constituents about where he is or why he’s missing from the job they elected him to do. Kean Jr.’s unexplained absence has resulted in a barrage of negative headlines that have put a spotlight on his corruption and pattern of failing to stand up for the people of New Jersey. He and his office’s vague statements and ever-changing timeline for his return have raised more questions than answers. It’s now indisputable that Kean Jr.’s reelection odds have greatly diminished heading into November – if he ever even decides to reemerge.
Kean Jr.’s absence has put a bright spotlight on his record of corruption, including his continued stock trading while missing from Congress. As a candidate, Kean Jr. pledged to ban congressional stock trading and promised to place his millions of dollars of assets into a blind trust. New Jersey voters have been reminded that Kean Jr. has broken both of those promises during his mysterious absence. Kean Jr.’s financial disclosures revealed that he made multiple market moves while simultaneously missing votes in Washington. Kean Jr. even signed off on special interest group-funded travel perks for his staff while he’s been missing from the job.
Now, New Jersey voters are reading and watching paid advertisements calling out Kean Jr. because he “won’t show up for work, but will trade stocks.”
New Jerseyans have been reminded that Kean Jr. was always an absent congressman, long before he physically went missing. A statewide New Jersey editorial board criticized Kean Jr.’s lack of transparency during his absence and noted his silence is “part of a pattern” of dodging voters and the press. And a longtime columnist skewered Kean Jr. as “the invisible man,” writing he “has been missing in action for much of his time in the House of Representatives.”
It’s more than his physical absence: Kean Jr.’s 100+ day disappearance has been a reminder of his record of selling out New Jersey when his community needs him most. That includes voting with Trump 100% of the time (and even touting his endorsement while missing), refusing to call out Trump by name when the president withheld funding for the Gateway Tunnel, and ignoring local Republicans’ pleas to intervene against a proposed ICE detention facility. As Kean Jr.’s newly minted opponent Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett said: “You are failing us, and you do not deserve to represent us in Washington.”
Non-partisan race raters shift the race toward Democrats, and public polling shows Kean Jr. is trailing his opponent. Since Kean Jr.’s last public sighting, non-partisan race rater Inside Elections has shifted their rating of NJ-07 twice – and now declares the contest ‘Tilt Democratic.’ Polling shows that Bennett leads Kean Jr. by a 4-point margin as momentum continues to surge behind her campaign.
Now, even Republicans are publicly panicking and concede they are at risk of losing this critical seat. CNN reports that Kean Jr.’s absence “is now increasingly rattling House Republicans”; NBC News reports “Republicans are growing anxious”; The Washington Post reports that “Republicans are worried”; and NJ.com reports that “even those who are ride or die for Tom Kean are starting to ask questions.” Kean Jr.’s own Republican colleagues don’t know where he is and have slammed his lack of transparency as “embarrassing.” A self-described “card-carrying Republican” in NJ-07 couldn’t bring herself to vote for Kean Jr. even as he ran unopposed in the Republican primary, saying she was concerned about his ability to do his job. With each passing day, noise about the potential for Kean Jr. to be replaced on the ballot grows louder as questions swirl about whether he will even run for reelection.
BOTTOM LINE: Tom Kean Jr. was always going to face a difficult path to reelection as a corrupt career politician who has put himself and Donald Trump ahead of the people of New Jersey. Now, his unexplained 100+ day absence has left his reelection odds in tatters and cemented NJ-07 as one of Democrats’ best pick-up opportunities in the entire country. |
