Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.) speaks with reporters as he returns to CongressFrancis Chung/POLITICO/AP
On Tuesday, US Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) returned to Congress after a four-month previously unexplained absence, during which he received his full salary despite missing over 100 votes. He revealed on the House floor that he sought treatment for depression.
“I am grateful that I accepted help because today I stand before you healthier, stronger, and excited to return to the work that I love,” Kean said.
But during his two decades in the New Jersey Senate, Kean consistently opposed paid sick leave for his constituents.
He voted against New Jersey’s historic Earned Sick Leave Act, which mandates 5 paid sick leave days per year for New Jersey workers. He also voted against New Jersey’s No Surprise Medical Bills act and two of its paid family leave laws, in 2008 and 2018.
For Yarrow Willman-Cole of the nonprofit New Jersey Citizen Action, who organized for the Earned Sick Leave Act in 2018, Kean’s four-month absence is bitterly ironic. “He’s been able to rely on things he directly voted against,” Willman-Cole said.
On the House floor on Tuesday, Kean said he has been a longtime “supporter of mental health care.” But, he hasn’t made it easier for others to take the leave they need.
“You want your lawmakers to really be connected to their constituents and understand what their constituents need,” Willman-Cole said, “and this disconnect with a lawmaker clearly not representing the needs of the average worker, the average family, is a problem. That’s not what government should be like.”
Matthew Camarda, the advocacy and public policy director of the nonpartisan NAMI New Jersey, said that all politicians should recognize the importance of the need for mental health care.
“All individuals with mental health conditions deserve that opportunity to get care and to recover on their own terms,” Camarda said.
Kean also notably voted for Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which establishes work requirements for people on Medicaid. For low-income people on Medicaid, the need to fulfill work requirements to keep their health care could be a barrier to treatment as they go into effect.
“All of it makes it very challenging for millions of Americans in this country who do have mental health conditions like depression to get the care that they need without risking their employment and the rest of the stability of their lives,” Camarda said.
Whether or not Kean’s voting record and absence are dealbreakers will be up to constituents in his district come November, when he is facing Democratic challenger Rebecca Bennett to keep his seat.
“Many of our lawmakers are out of touch with the reality of most working people,” Willman-Cole said, “but the good news is there [are] always elections.”
