Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. is set to return to Washington after a mysterious four-month absence. The 57-year-old congressman will be “fully transparent” about his nearly four-month absence when he returns to Washington, according to his spokesperson, Harrison Neely.
Return to Washington
Kean, who has been recovering from a medical condition, is planning to deliver a floor speech that is expected to address his unexplained health condition. His absence has rattled House Republicans, who are worried it could complicate the GOP’s ability to hold onto a critical swing seat in an already difficult midterm cycle.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has spoken by phone with Kean and has said publicly that he’s urged Kean to explain his absence to his voters. Party leaders and senior aides have repeatedly told CNN they do not have any idea where Kean is, a rarity for a House GOP leadership team tasked with keeping close contact with rank-and-file members as they navigate their historically narrow majority.
Kean’s interaction with a CNN reporter on Monday appears to be only his second documented sighting in months, after he was first spotted at his Westfield home by The New York Times last week. In the meantime, senior leadership staff have been left to speculate about his ailment and why he would choose not to disclose it for months.
Reaction from Colleagues and Opponents
Lawmakers who believed they were close to him have been irked by unreturned messages. Democratic operatives have stepped up their attacks, newly confident they can flip his competitive battleground seat. The New Jersey congressman said in late April on social media that he’s dealing with a “personal medical issue,” without specifying what it is, and said he would be back “very soon.”
His Democratic opponent, Rebecca Bennett, has said little about Kean’s absence. But the House Democratic campaign chief, Suzan Delbene, has insisted he must be transparent. “Clearly, I wish him the best, but it is his job also to be transparent with his community and there has been no clarity about why he has been gone so long,” Delbene recently told a group of local reporters.
Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.
