Absentee Congressman Tom Kean Jr. deserves to get booted out of Congress

By James J. Devine

NJTODAY recently reported that Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. — who was absent from Capitol Hill for nearly four months and missed more than 140 roll call votes during his unexplained hiatus from March 5 to June 30, 2026— is using taxpayer money to fund social media posts that appear to promote his reelection campaign.

There is no more hollow symbol of our broken politics than a representative who vanishes, then proceeds to spend taxpayer money on his own re-election, except one who lies to the public when confronted with incontrovertible facts.

While families across New Jersey are drowning under the weight of housing costs, feeling the squeeze at the pump, and waiting for help to rebuild after devastating storms, Representative Tom Kean Jr has found the time—and the taxpayer cash—to fund his non-stop campaign ad sprees.

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

It is an act of breathtaking selfishness to drain public funds for personal political gain while your constituents are fighting for basic financial survival. These funds must be returned immediately.

And where is the man behind the commercials? His office claims a “personal medical issue” has kept him from his duties, but the explanation is as absent as the representative himself.

As PBS recently reported, Kean has missed over half of all House session days this year.

Now that he has ended his four-month hospital stay, Kean has remained AWOL. He’s hiding from constituents and threatening to have reporters arrested when they show up at his fundraising events.

A veteran reporter for The New York Times was blocked by Kean’s campaign consultant, Harrison Neely, from entering a campaign breakfast fundraiser featuring House Speaker Mike Johnson, even though other media outlets like Fox News and Lehigh Valley’s WFMZ were permitted inside.

Tracey Tully said she was denied entry to a fundraiser for Kean held at Hawk Point Golf Club in Washington Township, featuring House Speaker Mike Johnson, and she was reported to local police as a suspected trespasser, while other journalists from Fox News and local television were allowed inside.

Kean subsequently claimed on social media that he maintains “the most local press engagements of any NJ Member of Congress,” a remark that would be comical if not for the seriousness of America’s declining democracy.

While New Jerseyans have gone months without their voice in Congress, Kean has offered only silence and opacity—a “scant explanation” that would never be tolerated in the private sector or any other institution that values accountability.

Voters in the 7th District deserve a representative who actually shows up to work, not a placeholder who only appears on television screens to ask for more power.

The man’s political hypocrisy is as staggering as his absenteeism.

He dares to run ads claiming he’s “protecting the care New Jersey families count on” while his voting record exposes him as a fraud.

He voted to knock millions of Americans off Medicaid and strip away nutritional assistance—all to fund tax breaks for billionaires. This is not a representative who fights for working families; this is a politician who preys on our fears while serving the ultra-wealthy.

If you can’t be bothered to show up, and you can’t be trusted to vote for the people you claim to serve, you do not deserve to hold office. It is time for a new generation of leadership in Congress—leaders who believe in ethics over personal gain, and who understand that public service means serving the public, not their own political ambitions.