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“Tom Kean Jr.’s number one priority has always been and always will be his own political career. Whether it’s rolling back women’s reproductive rights or raising costs on New Jersey’s working families, he falls in line behind MAGA extremists to save his own skin. There is only one candidate in this race who has stood up to both parties to fight corruption and bring accountability and transparency to government, and that’s Sue Altman. Sue is a fearless fighter and won’t be afraid to root out corruption in Washington, defend our democracy, and grow the middle class,” said DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene.
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To: Interested Parties
From: Aidan Johnson
Date: June 4, 2024
Subject: The Case Against Tom Kean Jr.
Tom Kean Jr. is an entrenched politician who first ran for federal office in 2000. He has spent his career trading on his father’s name in pursuit of political power. An empty suit who does nothing in Congress but enable the most extreme elements of his own party, Kean Jr. has proven that he is willing to do whatever it takes to stay in office, even if it means lying to his own constituents. While he promised to be “pro-choice,” he instead has sided with MAGA extremists in Washington to roll back women’s fundamental freedoms.
Kean Jr. has no idea what New Jersey families are facing. While running for Congress, he was profiting off of hundreds of thousands of dollars in pharmaceutical stocks, including at the height of the pandemic. Now that he’s finally made it to Washington, he has neglected to report his stock trading on time. While New Jersey families are struggling to get by, Kean Jr. has failed to bring tax relief to New Jersey families and repeal the Trump-era tax scam because he doesn’t have the spine to stand up to party leadership. No matter what office he holds, Kean Jr.’s political career and personal portfolio always come first.
A proud daughter of New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, Sue Altman could not be more different from her out-of-touch opponent. After playing college and professional basketball, she went on to become a teacher and successful coach, leading two teams to state championships. During her time as a teacher, Sue stood up to then-Governor Chris Christie and fought against cuts to New Jersey’s public schools. She then spent a decade fighting corruption and the wasteful use of taxpayer dollars in Trenton.
Sue isn’t afraid to fight for New Jersey’s working families because she has seen firsthand that rising costs and unfair taxes are making it harder for people to raise families, own homes, and retire with dignity. She’s taken on corruption on both sides of the aisle to protect public education, save taxpayer money, and strengthen our democracy. When political insiders tried to cut taxes for corporations at the expense of New Jerseyans’ pocketbooks, Sue fought back. Now, she’s running for Congress to take this same fight to Washington because NJ-07 can no longer afford to be represented by a gutless politician who is controlled by MAGA extremists.
Beholden To Anti-Abortion Extremists
Tom Kean Jr. has failed to stand up to protect a woman’s right to choose. Before the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision, Kean Jr. promised he would fight “every step of the way to protect the unborn from egregious abortion laws.” Now to save his political career he’s claiming to be “pro-choice.” But when given the opportunity to codify Roe v. Wade nationwide, he sided with anti-abortion politicians who believe they should control women’s reproductive health care decisions.
In Washington, Kean Jr. has voted to punish doctors who provide abortions with criminal penalties and worked with extremists in the House to pass two bills that chip away at women’s constitutional freedoms and deny them access to essential reproductive health care.
After an Alabama Supreme Court decision threatened access to IVF and other forms of fertilization treatments, Kean Jr. decided to sign onto a so-called ‘pro-IVF’ resolution, a misleading stunt that doesn’t do anything to protect the procedure. Rather than support a bill that protects IVF nationwide, he decided to put on a show to try and gain a few political points.
No matter what he says, Kean Jr. can’t hide the fact that he supports deeply unpopular attacks on women’s reproductive rights. New Jerseyans see through his thinly-veiled attempt to appear “pro-choice” and know that when it matters most, he will work with the far-right fringes of the Republican Party to restrict abortion access.
An Entrenched, Corrupt, Career Politician
Tom Kean Jr. consistently prioritizes his political career over the welfare of regular New Jerseyans. He is a multimillionaire who violated the STOCK Act his first year in Congress. Living off his father’s name and success, Kean Jr.’s career has been marked by political favors and an alignment with affluent donors — putting his own interests over New Jersey’s working-class families.
In Trenton, Kean Jr. voted with wealthy political insiders. He opposed working-class tax relief, voted against paid sick leave and expanding paid family leave, and voted against property tax relief for working families an inexcusable 16 times. He opposed the Affordable Care Act and voted against expanding Medicaid eligibility.
Disconnected from the struggles of ordinary families, Kean Jr.’s time in Congress has been no better. At every turn, he has followed Trump’s orders and voted for legislation that would defund nutritional programs for pregnant women, slash education funding, cut housing subsidies for the poor, and obstruct medical research for cancer.
Last cycle he criticized his opponent, saying he “never stood up to” his party bosses. However, once in office, Kean Jr. quickly fell in line behind Jim Jordan and Mike Johnson and hasn’t had the courage to stand up to the MAGA extremists blocking any real effort to lower costs for New Jersey families. Despite proclaiming that tax relief is his “priority No. 1,” Kean Jr. has “failed to convince [his] party to go along” with efforts to reduce the tax burden on families he represents.
The only thing his record reflects is that Tom Kean Jr.’s real “priority No. 1” is himself. New Jerseyans deserve a representative who genuinely advocates for their well-being rather than exploiting his elected office for personal gain.
A No Show, Hiding In The Capitol Elevator
Since his election, Tom Kean Jr. has demonstrated a lack of transparency and accountability. He hasn’t held one public, in-person town hall since being elected and refuses to engage with reporters and constituents questioning his record. New Jerseyans deserve clear answers about his positions, especially concerning his complicity in his party’s pursuit of a nationwide abortion ban and his support for Donald Trump’s extreme agenda.
During his first congressional bid in 2020, Kean Jr. said that he’d be “supporting the president.” Then in 2022, Republican mailers sent out supporting Kean Jr. highlighted that “no matter what Trump does, Kean has his back.” Now, Kean Jr. is endorsing a vehement election denier for the U.S. Senate and fundraising with MAGA extremists like Speaker Johnson who played an instrumental role in the “stop the steal” effort to overturn the 2020 election.
After months of doing the bidding of MAGA extremists in Washington, last week Kean Jr. finally said the quiet part out loud and endorsed Donald Trump. The vulnerable freshman has gone to great lengths to avoid the convicted felon former president. When Donald Trump visited New Jersey, Kean Jr. was nowhere to be found. However, his record speaks for itself and now there is no denying that he will help Trump pass his dangerous agenda that includes banning abortion nationwide and gutting the retirement programs millions of New Jerseyans’ depend on.
MAGA extremists have a “quiet and obedient” “scared mouse” in Tom Kean Jr. Prioritizing party loyalty and his political career above all else, Kean Jr. has nothing to show for his time in Washington.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
The New Jersey Globe: Kean self-reports stock trades left off earlier reports [The New Jersey Globe, 9/19/23]
NPR: “When Tom Kean Jr. won the seat two years ago, he told voters he would protect abortion rights. […] But since then, he’s voted with his party to oppose abortion rights.” [NPR, 5/1/24]
NJ Insider: Kean Retreats to ‘Hiding Hole’ with Speaker Johnson [NJ Insider, 2/21/24]
Bergen Record: Opinion: What happened to moderate Tom Kean Jr.? On immigration deal, he went full MAGA [Bergen Record, 2/8/24]
HuffPost: “That kind of stint as a rabble-rouser is not exactly the textbook prelude to a congressional run in a Republican-held seat, but Altman is not one to follow conventions. […] With the energy of someone perpetually in a rush and the height of a former college basketball player, Altman has a kind of natural, effervescent charisma.” [HuffPost, 4/28/24]
The Gothamist: “In 2015, when Altman was a school teacher, she got into an argument with Christie, who was the Republican governor at the time, at a town hall meeting. When Altman interrupted Christie, which he rarely tolerated at any of his events, he tossed his microphone to her. A former basketball star, she caught it with one hand, eliciting applause from the audience. The exchange got attention around the state, and can be seen now as the beginning of Altman’s political career.” [The Gothamist, 4/30/24]
PATH TO VICTORY
As one of just 16 Biden-won districts represented by a Republican, New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District is a top pickup opportunity for Democrats. President Biden carried this district by nearly four points and, in 2022, Tom Kean Jr. won it by fewer than 9,000 votes — making it one of the closest margins of any House race last cycle.
During Presidential elections, the demographics of this district’s electorate favor Democrats and turnout tends to be much higher. With an increase in the number of highly-educated unaffiliated voters, young voters, and voters of color, the Republican vote share drops significantly.
Democratic groups were outspent nearly 3:1 in this district last cycle, but this time around Sue will have the resources to compete with Kean Jr. Democrats have already reserved airtime for the district and last quarter, after the party coalesced around her candidacy, Sue was able to outraise the vulnerable freshman Republican, making this “the first time Kean has been outraised by Democrats” since 2022.
Sue Altman isn’t afraid to challenge the status quo. She fought against members of both parties in Trenton because she was tired of seeing out-of-touch politicians take taxpayers for a ride. Right now more than ever, New Jerseyans are frustrated with entrenched politicians putting party above all else. Tom Kean Jr.’s quiet obedience to MAGA extremists hasn’t gone unnoticed, and it means this election will be another stinging rebuke in his decades long political career. |
