{"id":23104,"date":"2026-05-21T23:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T23:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/absent-congressmember-tom-kean-jr-starts-working-the-phone\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T23:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T23:32:08","slug":"absent-congressmember-tom-kean-jr-starts-working-the-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/absent-congressmember-tom-kean-jr-starts-working-the-phone\/","title":{"rendered":"Absent congressmember Tom Kean Jr. starts working the phone"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Rep. Tom Kean Jr.<\/a>, whose two-and-a-half month disappearance has stoked speculation about his health and political future, has begun more actively communicating over the phone.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Kean began calling Republican county chairs in his 7th Congressional District, one of the most competitive in the country in this year’s midterms. The two-term Republican also gave a \u201clengthy\u201d interview to New Jersey Globe on Thursday<\/a> afternoon, the first he has granted since he last voted on March 5. <\/p>\n

Kean did not respond to a text message from Blue Light News and his voicemail was full Thursday night. <\/p>\n

But Kean, 57, gave no details to the Globe on his undisclosed illness, which has kept him out of public view since early March. He said he\u2019s expecting to make a full recovery, that it would not affect his cognitive health, that he plans to run for reelection and that he will publicly discuss his health at an unspecified later date.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy doctors are confident that I\u2019m on the road to a full recovery,\u201d Kean told New Jersey Globe. \u201cI understand the need for public transparency, and I appreciate the support of my constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kean added that he plans to return to voting and campaigning in the next couple weeks. Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.)<\/a>, chair of the House GOP\u2019s campaign arm, told reporters Thursday he spoke to Kean and he will be back voting in June.<\/p>\n

Kean\u2019s lengthy absence has drawn national media attention, with reporters staking out his home in the wealthy 7th Congressional District, where he faces an extremely competitive reelection, with four Democrats competing in the June 2 primary to take him on in November. His campaign and office staff had repeatedly said that he expects to make a full recovery and would return to work \u201csoon.\u201d<\/p>\n

But few people \u2014 even Kean\u2019s two fellow New Jersey House Republicans \u2014 had recently reported speaking to him. House Speaker Mike Johnson<\/a> told reporters that he spoke to Kean last month.<\/p>\n

Kean called Republican chairs in his district on Thursday. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe sounded good to me. Sounded just as normal as always,\u201d said Carlos Santos, the Republican chair of Union County, where Kean lives.<\/p>\n

Santos said that he did not ask Kean about his ailment, and that Kean did not disclose it. But he said Kean confirmed he\u2019s running for reelection and that he has his support.<\/p>\n

Tracy DiFrancesco, the GOP chair of Somerset County, also spoke with Kean.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just a simple conversation. He sounded just like Tom always sounds. He sounded perfectly fine. He\u2019s basically back. Hopefully we\u2019re going to see him very soon,\u201d she said. \u201cI think he\u2019s doing well and we\u2019re excited to get back on his campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rep. Tom Kean Jr., whose two-and-a-half month disappearance has stoked speculation about his health and political future, has begun more actively communicating over the phone. On Thursday, Kean began calling Republican county chairs in his 7th Congressional District, one of the most competitive in the country in this year’s midterms. The two-term Republican also gave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}