A man by the name of Lester Noe Perez-Amador, a Guatemalan national in the country illegally, was recently arrested and charged in Warren County with sexually assaulting a child.

Such incidents, sadly, are not uncommon.

But what is relevant here is that the arrest popped up on Tom Kean Jr.'s campaign site. Here is the gist of the message:

"New Jerseyans deserve to feel safe in their own homes, and our local, state, and federal law enforcement need the full authority to work together and detain anyone who commit detestable crimes. Yet Rebecca Bennett for Congress and her DC handlers continue to call for our law enforcement to be defunded and disbanded." The post linked to a news story about the arrest.

So, it's Rebecca Bennett's fault?

Accusing Democrats of supporting "illegal alien criminals" is a Republican staple. And with the recent news that the Kean campaign has gotten a cash infusion of $3.3 million from a Trump-related PAC, you can expect to see more of the same from Team Kean.

This is the fourth cycle in a row that Kean has run in CD-7, but his campaign this time around seems much more intense. Or is it negative?

No surprise there.

A recent poll by StimSight for InsiderNJ gave Bennett a five-point lead over Kean.

That's not a huge gap, but in a district with about 17,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats, it's pretty good news for Bennett.

Many Republicans admit that Kean is in for a tough fight and some say they would not be shocked if he loses.

The feeling here is that the real problem is not Kean's public invisibility or even his four-month absence earlier this year.

It's Donald Trump.

Think back to a year ago when polls showed a close race between Mikie Sherrill and Jack Ciattarelli.

But just around this time in 2025 we had the government shutdown, which many instinctively blamed on the president, and Trump cutting off funding for the Gateway Tunnel.

That helped Sherrill win by almost 15 points.

This year things coming from the White House are even worse.

An unpopular war has meant gas at more than $4 a gallon. That - and the tariffs - have kept inflation above 3 percent.

If there is one thing most Americans agree with in these polarizing times, it is trepidation about AI and the construction of massive data centers.

But not the president, who has spoken about a "conspiracy" against AI.

That's why Kean's campaign needs cash.

Thanks to Trump, a GOP district may now be hostile to a GOP congressman,