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Thomas Howard Kean Jr. — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Elections

Kean sought the Republican nomination for New Jersey's 7th congressional district, but lost the primary to Mike Ferguson by about 4,000 votes, finishing second in a field of four candidates.

On April 16, 2019, Kean announced that he was running for New Jersey's 7th congressional district in 2020, challenging first-term Democratic incumbent Tom Malinowski. In the first quarter of 2019, Kean nearly matched Malinowski's fundraising total of over $500,000. In August 2019, Kean was endorsed by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Kean won the Republican primary over token opposition, and narrowly lost to Malinowski in the general election. It was the closest House race in New Jersey and one of the closest in the country; due to the close margin and slow counting of mail-in and provisional ballots, the outcome remained in doubt until nearly two weeks after the election.

Kean announced in February 2021 that he would not seek reelection to the State Senate and immediately became the subject of speculation that he was preparing to run for New Jersey's 7th congressional district again. Malinowski was under scrutiny after his failure to disclose more than 100 stock trades became a national news story and led to a complaint filed with the House Ethics Committee. In redistricting, the 7th district was made more Republican while the neighboring 11th and 5th districts became more solidly Democratic. Kean formally announced his campaign on July 14, 2021, joined by U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. He won the Republican primary in June 2022 and the general election with 51.4% (159,392 votes) to Malinowski's 48.6% (150,701 votes).

Kean won reelection in 2024 against Democratic nominee Sue Altman, a former leader of the New Jersey's Working Families Party.

Kean is a candidate for reelection in 2026. He has been endorsed by Donald Trump. He will face Democratic candidate Rebecca Bennett in the general election.

Kean was absent from Congress and was not seen in public from March 6, 2026, until June 30, 2026. In a June 30 return to the floor of the U.S. House, he said a depression diagnosis and subsequent hospitalization led to his absence from Congress.

Cook Political Report had described the seat as a "toss up" in an analysis published before his absence began and individuals connected to the Republican Party expressed concerns about the party's ability to hold on to a majority in Congress without a Kean victory in November.

Tenure

Kean is a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership, and joined the Problem Solvers Caucus. Kean said he joined the caucus to assure constituents that he remains committed to "working across the aisle".

Sue Altman, his opponent in the 2024 election, and other critics have called Kean out for not holding in-person town halls. Fred Snowflack of Insider NJ minimized the potential negative impact on Kean, reporting that "Dating back to last fall's campaign, most of those griping about Kean's incommunicado ways were the media and voters who probably were not going to support him anyway."

During his 2022 election campaign, Kean, who self-describes as pro-choice, promised voters that he would support abortion rights. After the Dobbs decision, he said "this decision is now best to happen on the state level." During his tenure, he voted against the Women's Health Protection Act which would have codified the abortion rights that the Supreme Court overturned. He voted for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would penalize healthcare practitioners who fail to provide care for an infant that is born-alive from an abortion attempt. Kean has expressed support for IVF and introduced legislation to provide income tax credits to people undergoing fertility treatments.

On October 5, 2023, Kean signed a letter to the House Agriculture Committee along with 15 House Republicans opposing the inclusion of the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act in the 2023 farm bill. The EATS Act, introduced in response to the California farm animal welfare law Proposition 12, would have overturned state and local animal welfare laws restricting the sale of agricultural goods from animals raised in battery cages, gestation crates, and veal crates. The letter argued that the legislation would undermine states' rights and cede control over U.S. agricultural policy to the Chinese-owned pork producer WH Group and its subsidiary Smithfield Foods.

In 2024, Kean, one of 17 House Republicans representing a district that voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, endorsed Donald Trump.

In 2026, Kean voted in favor of legislation extending Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, joining 16 other Republicans supporting the bill.

In February 2026, Kean supported Trump's initial strikes in the 2026 Iran war. Kean has voted against multiple resolutions concerning presidential war powers in the context of that war.