Democrats, meanwhile, planned to target Kean’s competitive district, which Trump won by just one point in 2024, in the midterms, even before his absence, and Democratic candidates for the seat increasingly honed in on his absence during his time away.
“I sincerely wish him well. I hope he has a good recovery. But he’s absolutely failed this district, so we’re going to hold him accountable for his voting record,” former Navy pilot Rebecca Bennett, who won the Democratic primary to take on Kean in November, said in an interview with Politico earlier this month. She pointed to the congressman’s vote in favor of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which helped get the sweeping tax and spending package across the finish line in a narrow 218-214 House vote.
Bennett told supporters in Bridgewater after her win that she was “coming for” Kean. Addressing him, she said, “You were nowhere to be found when Donald Trump started another forever war in the Middle East. You were nowhere to be found when DHS tried to put an ICE detention facility in Roxbury and you were nowhere to be found when Trump held up the funding for the Gateway Tunnel.”
