{"id":4991,"date":"2026-07-13T11:47:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T06:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=4991"},"modified":"2026-07-13T11:47:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T06:47:20","slug":"republican-tom-kean-jr-set-to-return-to-congress-after-long-unexplained-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=4991","title":{"rendered":"Republican Tom Kean Jr. set to return to Congress after long unexplained absence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \"><span class=\"oyrPY qlwaB AGxeB  \">TRENTON, N.J. &#8212; <\/span>Tom Kean Jr., the New Jersey Republican who&#8217;s been <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/tom-kean-new-jersey-congress-medical-absence-0580c601719fad2a67c102f718e3d084\">away from Congress<\/a> for almost four months, is expected to re-emerge in public after months of speculation about the unspecified medical condition he says has kept him away from Washington. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Kean, 57, a second-term lawmaker and scion of a <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/tom-kean-jr-new-jersey-house-congress-a18e28662c8c4a5b9a8b064a13af54ee\">New Jersey political family<\/a>, represents a battleground district that includes President Donald Trump&#8217;s Bedminster golf club. He&#8217;s missed more than 100 votes in Congress this year and hasn&#8217;t been seen publicly in Washington or his district despite winning the Republican nomination to serve another term. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Kean\u2019s spokesman promised the congressman would return to work Tuesday and be transparent about what has kept him away. Last week, Kean answered the door of his home when a <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"http:\/\/nytimes.com\/2026\/06\/24\/nyregion\/tom-kean-missing-found.html\">New York Times reporter<\/a> visited, but declined to be interviewed, saying only that he would speak to them later. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The mystery over Kean&#8217;s absence carries potential political implications, given the competitive district he represents and the Republican Party&#8217;s narrow control of the House. His office has said he is still running for reelection and is <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/primary-new-jersey-house-kean-756e7b7d87a80eefe4b68481b33f69c4\">set to face<\/a> Democratic nominee Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, in New Jersey&#8217;s most high-profile contest in November. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Democrats have targeted the district as a prime pick-up opportunity, given that the seat has changed hands in the last two midterm elections. Kean won in 2022 by defeating Democrat Tom Malinowski, who had defeated Republican Leonard Lance in 2018.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Kean last voted in the House on March 5, but his absence wasn\u2019t explained. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In April, his social media account said he had been dealing with a personal medical issue and his doctors expected him to recover. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Kean\u2019s absence has also complicated matters for House Republican leaders, who are struggling every day to pass bills with their razor-thin majority, 218-212. Speaker Mike Johnson and other GOP leaders repeatedly told reporters they were in touch with Kean, but said he would have to address the circumstances himself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Trump has endorsed Kean\u2019s reelection, without mentioning his absence. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Kean comes from a long line of public servants, stretching 250 years to the country\u2019s founding when one of his ancestors became New Jersey\u2019s first leader since independence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">His great-grandfather was a senator, his grandfather was a congressman and his father is the former two-term governor, Tom Kean Sr.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TRENTON, N.J. &#8212; Tom Kean Jr., the New Jersey Republican who&#8217;s been away from Congress for almost four months, is expected to re-emerge in public after months of speculation about the unspecified medical condition he says has kept him away from Washington. Kean, 57, a second-term lawmaker and scion of a New Jersey political family,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/bb0b3d11-da90-45a5-bb55-1dcd57486aa4\/wirestory_e7c40a55f06df86228f3646441532444_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}