Staffers for Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) said the congressman will miss votes yet again this week but will be back “soon” – a promise his office has now been making, without any further specificity, for two months.
“Congressman Kean is still attending to a personal health matter and we appreciate the outpouring of support,” Kean’s chief of staff, Dan Scharfenberger, said in a brief statement. “He will be returning to a regular full schedule soon. The Congressman’s team continues to serve the people of New Jersey uninterrupted.”
As in the past, Kean’s office did not provide any detail on the nature of the medical issue that has caused the congressman to miss such an extraordinary amount of time in Washington, or when his long absence will end.
The 57-year-old Kean last cast a House vote on March 5; on March 20, after his first week of missed votes, his office acknowledged that he was “addressing a personal health matter.” Since then, Kean has been absent for 78 votes over the course of two months, and has not been seen in-person for any official or campaign business in either Washington or New Jersey.
In mid-April, the congressman’s absence caught the attention of a number of national news outlets, which noted that even many of Kean’s colleagues and fellow Republicans had not heard from him in weeks. Soon after those stories were published, House Speaker Mike Johnson said that he had spoken with Kean by phone and was reassured that he would be “back to 100% very soon.”
Kean addressed the issue in his own words on April 27, releasing a statement that said his doctors anticipate a “complete” recovery. “I take my responsibilities seriously and have a strong record of showing up and delivering, which makes this absence all the more difficult,” Kean said.
Kean’s absence has deprived House Republican leaders of a key vote in a closely divided chamber, and has also started to cast a pall over the race for the 7th district, a competitive district where four well-funded Democrats are vying to take Kean on. The congressman’s campaign team has insisted Kean is full-steam-ahead for a third term, though that hasn’t stopped rumors from flying anyways.
“Of course Congressman Kean is running for reelection,” Harrison Neely, Kean’s longtime campaign consultant, told Politico last week. “He’s looking forward to getting back on the campaign trail very soon.”