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.
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“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.
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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?”
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Man who disappeared without explanation for four months straight accuses opponent of hiding. https://t.co/FGFlBECewJ
— Ethan C7 (@ECaliberSeven) August 22, 2026
