NEW: “Tom Kean Jr. Is Running For Re-Election — And From Questions”

Gothamist : "I never heard anything from Tom Kean, which is par for the course."

Local reporters are running up against Tom Kean Jr.'s "silent treatment" - a media strategy where "all queries to the campaign go unanswered," creating a situation they describe as akin to "Where's Waldo."

One example highlighted by Gothamist in their damning report this morning was a recent event Kean Jr. held at a retirement community. Kean Jr. tried his best to lock down negative coverage by blocking press from the event, but an embarrassing exchange still went viral on social media where Kean Jr. transparently attempted feigning ignorance to duck a question on Project 2025.

Kean Jr.'s abysmal performance explains why Kean has refused to hold even one town hall while his predecessor held over 100.

DCCC Spokesperson Aidan Johnson:
"Tom Kean Jr. might believe he can relax behind the shield of his last name and send any incoming questions to spam, but his attempts to stonewall the media only bring more attention to his weak and muddled answers when he's inevitably backed into a corner. No matter how hard he tries, Kean Jr. will be held accountable for his record, and New Jersey voters will see him for the self-absorbed MAGA rubber stamp he is."

Gothamist: NJ Rep. Tom Kean is running for re-election - and from questions
Nancy Solomon | September 24, 2024

• Trying to cover the re-election campaign of Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey is a bit like reading the children's book "Where's Waldo?"

• Numerous postings on Facebook from the Kean campaign show events in the state's 7th Congressional District, but only after those appearances have been held. His campaign sends out press releases criticizing his Democratic challenger Sue Altman, but none mention any of Kean's upcoming public events.

• All queries to the campaign go unanswered, including one for this story. Multiple reporters from other outlets said this has also happened to them.

• "Back about a month ago, I emailed both campaigns and said, 'Let me know of the public appearances the candidates are making,'" reporter Fred Snowflack of political news site Insider NJ said. Snowflack has covered local politics in the district for more than 30 years. "Sue Altman's team got back to me right away," he noted. "And of course, I never heard anything from Tom Kean, which is par for the course."

• "And I think that's really what they are trying to hide from voters here, that this is somebody who isn't capable of doing one of the most basic things that an elected representative is supposed to do" [said former Rep. Tom Malinowski].

• A recent event in a retirement community backfired for Kean and went viral on social media, even though the press was not invited. An audience member grilled the representative about whether he supported Project 2025, the conservative playbook for Trump's potential second term.

• When Kean told the audience he hadn't read the plan, the questioner, an older woman, persisted. "You've never read it?" she asked. "No," Kean replied. "Why not?" the woman asked. "This is a manifesto, an outline of the man who's the candidate for your party for president. And you're not interested in the least in what he is?"

• Kean has avoided such [public] encounters. He has never held a public town hall, and activists complain that they can't ask their questions on telephone town halls. His predecessor, Malinowski, held more than 100 in-person town halls.

• "He has tied his success to the coattails of the MAGA agenda, and when you do hear him speak, he's towing the party line," said Savoca. "So he's bellying up to the MAGA bar."