What They’re Saying: Tom Kean Jr. “Should Be Worried”

Non-partisan race rater Cook Political Report officially shifted Kean Jr.’s race to the “toss up” category after Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill carried his district during her victory earlier this month.

And new reporting today highlights how Kean Jr. has “stayed aligned with President Donald Trump during his second term” and “voted 100% of the time in support of Trump-backed legislation.”

Read what they’re saying for yourself:

• “Tom Kean should be worried,” said Matthew Hale, a politics professor at Seton Hall University. “The fact that so many [Democrats] are jumping in is because they sense vulnerability, and so they’re lining up to take a shot.”
• One challenge facing Kean will be how closely he’s stayed aligned with President Donald Trump during his second term. The party of the president in power tends not to fare well in the midterms that follow a presidential election. Polling shows that a majority of New Jerseyans disapprove of Trump’s job performance.
• Kean’s scorecard from the progressive policy institute Center for American Progress shows he has voted 100% of the time in support of Trump-backed legislation. And despite signing onto multiple letters warning of the energy cost implications of the president’s Big Beautiful Bill, Kean voted to support the legislation anyway.

• Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) is now in a toss-up race, according to the Cook Political Report (CPR), a top elections forecaster.
• […] in the wake of Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill’s narrow victory in the district last week, the forecaster has shifted it into its most competitive category.
• “The combination of a tougher environment for the congressman, a likely stronger Democratic nominee, and this district’s long-term shift away from the GOP is enough to move this district from Lean Republican to Toss Up,” CPR House editor Erin Covey wrote.

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