Rep. Tom Kean (R-NJ) drew a flood of mockery after launching a “laughable” attack on his Democratic opponent Saturday, one critics quickly noted was dripping with irony.
“I do the most local press engagements of any NJ Member of Congress,” Kean wrote Saturday in a social media post on X. “Meanwhile, my opponent [Rebecca Bennett] stays hidden from voters behind a campaign script.”
Critics were quick to point out that Kean had only recently returned from a four-month absence from Congress – an absence which the lawmaker or his aides refused to explain, outside of a delayed statement that it was due to a “personal medical issue.” Casting his last vote before his absence on March 5, Kean finally revealed the reason for his absence in late June upon his return: a “diagnosis of depression.”
“Man who disappeared without explanation for four months straight accuses opponent of hiding,” quipped Ethan Chen, a New Jersey-based elections analyst and political commentator.
MS NOW congressional reporter Matt Fuller called Kean’s attack on Bennett “laughable,” and argued that even outside of Kean’s mysterious four-month absence, he was “one of the very least accessible lawmakers on Capitol Hill.”
New Jersey political communications strategist Ethan Block flagged an incident in which police were called on a New York Times reporter trying to cover a fundraiser for Kean, while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) separately condemned Kean’s attack as ironic.
“Only a career politician could come up with this kind of spin,” reads a post from the DCCC’s X account published Saturday. “Junior, you didn’t tell your constituents where you were for nearly 4 months and your team just called the police on a journalist because you’re too afraid to answer questions. Could you be any less transparent?”
Man who disappeared without explanation for four months straight accuses opponent of hiding. https://t.co/FGFlBECewJ — Ethan C7 (@ECaliberSeven) August 22, 2026
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