Tom Kean Jr made 189 stock trades without pausing market activity during his 4-month psychiatric stay

The bill passed the House 232-198 and now awaits Senate action.

“Members of Congress should serve the public — not profit from public office,” Kean said on the House floor, but the Republican lawmaker who mercilessly attacked former Congressman Tom Malinowski’s investments recorded 189 trades totaling $3.19 million, with the most recent transaction dated September 12, 2026.

Democratic congressional nominee Rebecca Bennett has sold off her investments and promises not to enrich herself with stock trades if she is sent to Congress.

The former Navy helicopter pilot’s preemptive action is reassuring, because her Republican opponent, Rep. Tom Kean Jr., pledged to support legislation barring members of Congress from trading individual stocks, even as financial disclosure records show continued market activity in his portfolio during the four months he was hospitalized in a psychiatric facility.

Kean, a New Jersey Republican, voted July 22 for the Stop Insider Trading Act, which would prohibit lawmakers, their spouses and dependent children from purchasing individual stocks.

Quiver Quantitative, which tracks congressional trading through STOCK Act filings, reported 189 trades in Kean’s portfolio, including numerous transactions that occurred during his 4-month hospitalization in a psychiatric institution following the nervous breakdown he suffered after voting to knock 15 million Americans off health insurance.

Kean Jr has not revealed key facts about his hospitalization, which began in March and lasted approximately four months–going weeks without anyone noticing his absence.

Kean returned to Congress in June and disclosed he had been treated for depression after originally checking into a hospital for routine testing.

The GOP career politician missed more than 140 votes during his absence, which was covered up by his staff with press releases, social media posts, and a refusal to answer questions once journalists finally discovered he was AWOL.

The congressman’s office has claimed Kean placed his investable assets under independent professional management and does not personally direct trades. In a 2023 letter to the House Ethics Committee, his attorney said Kean has “no involvement” in investment decisions and sought restrictions on investments in companies tied to foreign adversaries and short-selling of American companies.

House ethics rules prevented Kean from establishing a qualified blind trust with those conditions, according to his attorney.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has criticized Kean over the trades, arguing he “had time to play the stock market and line his pockets” while absent from Washington. Kean’s opponent, Democrat Rebecca Bennett, has called for an outright ban on members of Congress trading individual stocks.

The National Republican Congressional Committee has defended Kean, saying Democrats are “peddling false claims” and blurring the distinction between owning stocks and directing their purchase or sale.

No Republican has called out President Donald Trump’s nearly 28,000 stock transactions that occurred during his tenure in the White House.

The Stop Insider Trading Act would allow lawmakers to keep existing holdings. Bennett’s asset sale means she will not have any.

The proposed law includes exceptions for dividends and certain spousal occupations, and requires seven to 14 days’ advance public notice before the sale of existing stocks.

Good-government groups have pushed for stricter alternatives requiring full divestment, and Bennett has aligned with their call.

Kean, 57, is seeking a third term in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, where the Cook Political Report recently predicted a likely Democratic victory.

He previously served in the New Jersey General Assembly and state Senate, where he was minority leader from 2008 to 2022, after initially being appointed to each of those legislative chambers.