ICYMI: Congressman Tom Kean Jr.’s No Good Very Bad Week
July 20, 2026, 4:16 pm | in
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 20, 2026
ICYMI: Congressman Tom Kean Jr.’s No Good Very Bad Week
Kean Jr. remains silent on the issues that matter, but active as ever in the stock market
SOMERVILLE, NJ — In case you missed it, Congressman Tom Kean Jr.’s week was, well, less than ideal.
First, Rebecca Bennett outraised him by a nearly 3:1 margin, while the money he did raise came from a whole host of corporate PAC donors. While his fundraising efforts lagged, his stock trading was as active as ever — he reported making 18 trades in June worth “up to potentially $340,000.”
While he’s actively trading stocks, he’s nowhere to be found on the issues that matter most to his constituents. Congressman Kean Jr. remains silent on the Trump Administration’s plan to re-start construction of a detention center in Roxbury — even after Roxbury’s Republican-led Town Council asked him for help. He’s not answering questions from reporters and his public appearances have been few and far between. Even a local Republican chairman is hoping he “intends to be more visible.”
“What we’ve seen from Congressman Kean Jr. since his return to work is what his constituents have come to expect from him: he will always put his own political and financial fortunes ahead of the communities he represents,” said Carly Jones, Spokesperson for Rebecca Bennett Campaign. “All across the district, people are rallying behind Rebecca because they are ready to elect a leader who will tackle our cost-of-living crisis, clean up corruption in Washington, and put country over party.”
Read the greatest hits from Kean Jr.’s no good, very bad week for yourself:
Six trades the day he won the Republican primary. Three more on the day before he came back after missing from Congress for more than 100 days. And another trade on the day he gave a speech on the House floor revealing his absence was due to depression.
A Gothamist review of New Jersey Rep. Tom Kean Jr.’s latest periodic transaction report shows the New Jersey Congressional member made 18 stock trades in June. The report lists their values in ranges, but shows the amount of money Kean traded ranges from at least $46,000 to up to potentially $340,000.
Asked about his return to Congress after a monthslong absence and his schedule as he runs for re-election in one of the country’s most competitive contests, Mr. Kean stared straight ahead.
If the congressman has been on the campaign trail in New Jersey, it is hard to tell. Aides have refused repeated requests for his campaign schedule in the two weeks since Mr. Kean reappeared in Congress and explained that he had been hospitalized for depression.
“I hope he intends to be more visible,” said Mr. Steinhardt, who previously led the New Jersey Republican Party.
We are all glad that Kean was able to get the care he needed and applaud him for bringing attention to these issues. Yet impending Medicaid work reporting requirements — which he and hundreds of other members of Congress supported — will make it much harder for millions of other Americans to do the same.
For people without health insurance or paid leave, a medical issue like the one experienced by Kean would be a financial catastrophe.
On Friday, less than two weeks after Kean explained that his lengthy absence from Congress was due to his treatment for depression, the Department of Homeland Security reignited a controversy over a proposed immigrant detention facility in Kean’s district that united Republicans and Democrats in opposition.
And it forces the normally quiet incumbent to tell voters where he stands — with the Trump administration or against it. But as of Monday afternoon, he hadn’t taken a position explicitly for or against the facility.
Kean’s refusal to go harder against the administration had earned him a remarkable rebuke from the all-Republican government Roxbury Township, which in a February statement said Kean “did not engage to the level we had hoped to provide the advocacy our residents deserved.”
Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.) was overwhelmingly outraised by his Democratic opponent during the most recent fundraising period
Kean’s 7th Congressional District is among the most competitive in the nation, and both parties see it as critical to winning a House majority in November. Bennett is considered by Democrats as a strong recruit, a sentiment bolstered by her fundraising: She’s raised nearly $4.3 million since launching her campaign, not far behind Kean’s $5.1 million.
