McCarthy coming to N.J. to fundraise for Kean this Friday

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is coming to New Jersey on Friday to hold a fundraiser with Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), a swing-district congressman whose seat is critical to McCarthy’s narrow Republican majority.

The fundraiser, advertised as a “beer and chili bash,” was originally set for June, but had to be rescheduled after bad weather prevented Kean’s and McCarthy’s plane from taking off in Washington. It will take place somewhere within Kean’s 7th congressional district, though Kean’s campaign declined to provide any further details about where it will be.

Kean has been an ally of McCarthy since before he was elected to the House; McCarthy was present at Kean’s campaign launch in 2021, back when he was still House Minority Leader and Kean was still a state senator seeking to unseat Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes). During the prolonged House leadership battle at the beginning of this year, Kean supported McCarthy for Speaker on all 15 ballots.

Kean is also a strong fundraiser even without McCarthy’s direct assistance. During the first six months of 2023, Kean raised $1.7 million, and still has $1.5 million on-hand ahead of what’s likely to be a highly competitive re-election fight.

But Friday’s event comes at a complicated time in Congress. Thanks in large part to a rebellion from the rightmost members of the House Republican caucus, Congress is hurtling towards a September 30 government funding deadline with no plan in place to avert a shutdown.

The New Jersey Working Families Party – a progressive group whose former leader, Sue Altman, is one of the leading Democrats seeking to unseat Kean – said that in light of the potential shutdown, Kean and McCarthy should cancel the fundraiser and hold an in-person town hall instead.

“With a September 30 government funding deadline looming, it’s clear the only deadline Kean cares about is a quarterly fundraising deadline,” the party said in a statement. “He’d rather spend his time rubbing elbows with donors at a private party and dodging his constituents.”