Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP Images
Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ), who disappeared from Congress for three months this year with virtually no explanation, lost his reelection bid on Tuesday night.
Republicans took a drubbing on Election Day, losing control of the House, Senate, several governorships, hundreds of state legislative seats, and other offices across the country in a stinging rebuke of President Donald Trump and GOP governance. After telling voters for months to pretend he was on the ballot, on Tuesday night, Trump flat-out insisted, “I wasn’t on the ballot.”
Kean, who represents New Jersey’s seventh congressional district for another two months, lost his reelection bid by 16 points to Democrat Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot.
On March 5, Kean cast a vote in the House and then disappeared with no explanation. Not even his fellow Republicans in Congress knew where he was, with one stating in April that it was “radio silence” from Kean’s camp. Kean’s office issued a statement saying the congressman was being treated for “a personal medical issue,” but the statement did not elaborate.
In May, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he didn’t know anything beyond what Kean said in his statement.
“He said he was out on a medical issue and he’ll be back as soon as possible,” Johnson said at the time. “That’s the full extent of what I know about it.”
Later in May, a staffer for Kean criticized a CNN reporter for trying to locate Kean’s whereabouts. On June 1, Trump endorsed the absentee Kean, stating, “HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN.”
Finally, on June 30, nearly four months after he disappeared from Congress, Kean returned to the House and delivered a floor speech revealing he had been treated for depression. It is unclear why Kean and his office were not more forthright about the public official’s situation for such an extended period.
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