LOST AND FOUND

Missing MAGA Congressman Humiliated in Election Disaster

The Republican returned from absentia—but didn’t stay long.

A Republican congressman who was absent from Congress for four months while being treated for depression—despite voting against paid sick leave in his home state—was defeated in his bid for reelection.

Thomas Kean Jr., 58, lost out to his Democratic opponent Rebecca Bennett on Friday, a crushing blow to Donald Trump’s party that helped flip the House of Representatives to the Democrats.

Earlier this year, Kean gained national attention after missing 100 votes from Congress due to a mysterious, prolonged absence. Upon his return to Capitol Hill, the Trump loyalist said he was being treated for depression in a hospital.

Kean retained his $174,000 taxpayer-funded salary amid his absence. At the same time, he consistently voted against paid family leave in the Garden State and supported Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, which included devastating benefit cuts.

When Kean finally returned to Washington, his first order of business was to attend a fundraiser for his reelection, Politico reported in June. The second-term congressman has since hosted at least four more fundraisers as the midterm campaign season heated up, Politico reported.

Bennett, for her part, coasted to victory with almost two-thirds of the vote with 77 percent of ballots counted, according to the Associated Press. Soon after, the House was officially called for Democrats.

Republicans lost multiple seats early Tuesday night, including one in once-considered-safe red Kentucky’s 6th congressional district. Multiple Florida districts that were gerrymandered at Trump’s request were also wrestled from the party’s grasp.

Trump’s strategy of focusing his campaign blitz on himself backfired across the country—and New Jersey was no exception.

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In the summer, more than 600 New Jersey Republicans wrote in candidates on primary ballots to protest Kean, a loyal Trump voter in the House.

“If we could roll back virtually everything that’s happened since Donald Trump took office,” Richard Dodds, a Republican from Hunterdon County in New Jersey, told The New York Times, that would be a good start.”

Kean is a fixture in New Jersey politics and served in the State Legislature for two decades. His father is a former Republican governor, and his grandfather and great-grandfather served in Congress.

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Laura EspositoBreaking News Reporter

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