A Republican House representative from New Jersey has been absent from Congress for more than 75 days, and with their seat rated as among the most competitive for this year’s midterm elections, party leaders are growing increasingly concerned, Time reported Friday.
That lawmaker is Rep. Tom Kean (R-NJ), who has said that his extended absence was due to a “personal medical issue,” without providing further detail. Kean’s own neighbors haven’t seen him and that his home had been “dark for a number of weeks,” Time reported, citing a report from NOTUS.
“As well as being a member of the Republican Party’s current, razor-thin majority in the House, Kean sits in a swing seat in New Jersey’s seventh congressional district, which the Cook Political Report rates among the most competitive in this year’s high-stakes midterm elections,” Time’s report reads. “Kean’s seat could prove crucial in the GOP’s battle to retain House control, which has made his absence a significant point of concern for the party.”
Amid Kean’s extended absence, the lawmaker has, however, still found time to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from corporate political action committees (PACs), one of his Democratic opponents claimed.
“If you were missing work, you would tell your boss, and Tom Kean Jr.’s boss is the people. He did not tell us. That’s it,” said Democratic candidate Michael Roth, who’s vying for Kean’s seat.
“And in the time that he did not show up for work, he has raised more than $600,000 just from corporate PACs alone. That tells you who his boss is. It is time that we get a member of Congress who will show up.”
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