McCarthy will host fundraiser for Kean in Somerset County tonight

Update: The fundraiser was cancelled due to poor weather and will be rescheduled for a later date.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the highest-ranking Republican in the United States, will come to Somerset County’s Warren Township tonight to host a fundraiser for Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), who represents New Jersey’s only highly competitive congressional district.

Kean and McCarthy have been allies for several years; McCarthy supported Kean’s first run for the 7th congressional district in 2020 and was present at the launch of his eventually successful 2022 campaign. Kean repaid the favor during the protracted battle for House Speaker earlier this year, voting for McCarthy 15 straight times as right-wing Republicans repeatedly derailed the vote.

And if McCarthy is to remain Speaker for more than one term, he’ll need swing-seat representatives like Kean to win re-election. Kean is a very strong fundraiser on his own, but McCarthy likely provides an extra draw for donors to lend their support ahead of what will no doubt be a highly expensive general election.

Sue Altman, the only Democrat currently running against Kean, released a statement criticizing the fundraiser and saying that Kean had chosen McCarthy over his 7th district constituents.

“Tom Kean Jr. is working with McCarthy to help raise money for his own re-election campaign and pursuing more tax cuts for billionaires, instead of fighting for the working people of NJ-7,” Altman said. “When forced to choose between working New Jerseyans and the politically-connected, Tom Kean Jr. will always choose the side of the powerful at the expense of everyone else.”

During the 2022 campaign, Kean hit incumbent Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) again and again for supporting now-former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Now, with Republicans in the majority again, Democrats are trying to make McCarthy into the same kind of boogeyman that Pelosi was in years past.