Representative Tom Kean Jr. is using taxpayer money to fund his campaign ads

As New Jersey families grapple with soaring housing costs, high gas prices and lingering storm recovery needs, Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. — who was absent from Capitol Hill for nearly four months — has used taxpayer money to fund social media posts that appear to promote his reelection campaign.

Kean missed more than 140 roll call votes during his unexplained hiatus from March 5 to June 30, 2026.

According to CQ Roll Call data, Kean participated in just 37.17% of voting opportunities in the 119th Congress. His office initially said he was recovering from a “personal medical issue” before he revealed on the House floor June 30 that he had been hospitalized after suffering a nervous breakdown.

During his absence, Kean won an uncontested primary election on June 2. While he was not in Washington, his office issued publicly funded email messages and social media posts highlighting district visits and funding announcements — including the delivery of a $900,000 check to a local police department that his office had already touted a month earlier.

The MIA politician has recently been running ads paid for through the House of Representatives budget, which allows members to use official taxpayer funds for communications to constituents.

Franked communications from members of Congress, which started as postal mail and then expanded to email, social media, and broadcast television and radio ads, are intended to keep constituents informed of what their representatives are doing in Congress, but changes made in 2021 have expanded the scope of these ads.

The second-term congressman, who is seeking a third term in November, has cast his vote for the “One Big Beautiful Bill” as a defining moment of his tenure.

He supported the sweeping GOP legislative package, which passed in July 2025 and was signed into law by President Donald Trump. The bill cut more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program while increasing the federal deficit and providing tax breaks.

In New Jersey, the effects are already visible. Medicaid enrollment dropped by about 28,000 people — a 1.7% decline — between January and October 2025, according to Georgetown University’s Center for Children & Families. SNAP enrollment fell roughly 5%, from 817,000 to 776,000, between July 2025 and March 2026, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported. Nearly 70,000 fewer New Jerseyans enrolled in the state’s health insurance marketplace after Congress chose not to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits.

Kean has defended his vote, saying he secured a $40,000 cap on the state and local tax deduction for middle-class families.

Rules that were once in place to prevent abuse and blatant electioneering were weakened in 2022, allowing incumbents to hype themselves closer to elections.

A 90-day blackout period barring members from sending such mass communications before a primary or general election, instituted in 1995, was lowered back down to 60 days at the end of the 117th Congress.

Kean and other House incumbents use the congressional “franking” privilege, which allows members of Congress to fund official mailers, digital communications, and advertisements using taxpayer funds.

While legally authorized under House guidelines for constituent communication, critics and political opponents argue these ads provide a taxpayer-funded boost to reelection campaigns. But Democrats argue the numbers tell a different story.

“They’re playing games here. They’re getting up close to the deadline, using our money,” said University of Minnesota law professor Richard Painter, who was chief ethics lawyer in the White House counsel’s office under former President George W. Bush.  

“This stuff on social media is so obviously targeted for political campaigns. This isn’t keeping your constituents informed about what’s going on in the district or in Washington that’s going to help the district.” 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched digital ads targeting Kean over his absence and voting record.

“Tom Kean Jr. betrayed his constituents when voting for the Big, Ugly Bill. As a result of his actions, hospitals are closing, children are losing food, and health care is being stripped away,” DCCC spokesperson Viet Shelton said in a statement.

The National Republican Congressional Committee has dismissed criticism of his Medicaid record as misleading, pointing to a report from the Economic Policy Innovation Center —an offshoot of the ultraconservative Heritage Foundation—that claimed the Medicaid program would grow by nearly $200 billion over the next decade.

Adding to the criticism, federal disclosures show Kean traded stocks during his absence, filing three disclosures bearing his digital signature. He had previously pledged as a candidate to ban congressional stock trading and place his assets in a blind trust.

Corporate political action committees also continued to donate to his campaign while he was away, with contributions from energy, technology, and trade association PACs flowing in.

His Democratic opponent in November is Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot who has never held elected office.

The Cook Political Report has shifted the race from leaning Republican to a toss-up, but Kean is widely considered the most vulnerable incumbent in Congress.

Kean’s disclosure of his depression diagnosis has drawn attention to mental health among public officials. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he supported Kean’s decision to prioritize his health but would have preferred greater transparency earlier.

“Until you experience it yourself, it is difficult to fully understand how powerful this illness can be,” Kean said on the House floor.

But critics say the combination of missed votes, continued fundraising and unanswered questions about his absence has left constituents without a voice in Congress at a critical time. With New Jersey families still waiting for hurricane recovery aid and feeling the pressure of rising costs, some voters are questioning whether their representative has been working for them — or for himself.