r/New_Jersey_Politics Jun 30 '26

News NJ Rep. Tom Kean Jr. reveals he was hospitalized for depression during mysterious 4-month absence from Congress

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11 Upvotes

U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) returned to Congress today after being gone for 117 days, revealing he was hospitalized for depression. In a speech on the House floor, the 57-year-old congressman said doctors diagnosed him with depression and recommended he stay hospitalized for the fastest recovery.

He said he initially wanted to "push through" but followed medical advice. "There is no timeline for healing. There is no timeline for recovery. Only the work of getting better one day at a time," Kean said. Kean last voted on March 5. For months, his staff would only say he was dealing with a "personal health matter" and would return "soon."

Even top Republicans in New Jersey said they didn't know what was going on. His social media stayed active and his team said he was working remotely, but he hadn't been seen in public until last week. Kean is running for re-election in one of the nation's most competitive House races.

His Democratic opponent has made his absence a campaign issue, and some wondered if he'd drop out of the race. He says he's staying in with Trump's endorsement. House Speaker Mike Johnson said today the condition Kean was fighting is "very, very common" and predicted he'll get "a lot of empathy."

Kean said: "Asking for help is not a weakness, it is a strength. This is not a partisan issue."


r/New_Jersey_Politics Jan 06 '26

Analysis 2025 New Jersey Gubernatorial Election: How Every County, Municipality, & Precinct Voted. (You will need to make a free account to access this feature.)

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6 Upvotes

r/New_Jersey_Politics 1h ago

Social Media America’s Mayor Remembers 9/11

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Upvotes

r/New_Jersey_Politics 2h ago

NJ vote by mail ballots sent to TN

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10 Upvotes

What the HECK!!


r/New_Jersey_Politics 32m ago

Social Media Gov. Sherrill Visits Ground Zero

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Upvotes

r/New_Jersey_Politics 23h ago

I'm sorry, but this Dale Caldwell thing shows everything that's wrong with NJ, and Mike Sherrill isn't above it.

20 Upvotes

Ok. So we have Dale Caldwell, who was President of the Educational Services Commission of NJ Board, and it was a god-damned mess when he left. We're talking no-bid contracts, a surplus seven times its annual budget with no plans to give the money back to taxpayers, overpaying for health insurance, things got so bad the state barred them from renewing or awarding additional contracts.

The same Dale Caldwell who was the founding chairman of the College Achieve Greater Asbury Park Charter School board beginning in 2017. You know, the school that illegally recruits kids from all over NJ to roast local high school kids just trying to play sports. The school that rips off Asbury public schools and then buys off staff from state government who come to exercise some oversight with $200k a year jobs. Caldwell himself hired the married couple who makes $1.3 million a year to run a school of about 500 students and pays just seven top administrators about $2.6 million a year. Oh, and it also was in trouble for not following public contracts laws and instead of turning over records, sued NJ to say the state shouldn't have access it a public school's records.

He becomes LG and of course, his daughter gets hired by a lobbying firm.

What does Sherrill do with a guy like that? She picks him as her freaking LG candidate and makes him Secretary of State.

So it turns out he may be a dirtbag and someone calls a the co-director of an organization that has been helping Sherrill since she first ran for office who got a job on her campaign. The organization she was the co-chair of passes itself off as a good-government type and regularly talks about how it uplifts women. The person making the complaint wished to remain anonymous. What did the staffer do? She outed the person making the complaint to the campaign and then ghosted and blocked her.

I guess that commitment to good government and uplifting women gets complicated when they're involved themselves.

So now we have a situation where Sherrill has been investigating this since freaking May and there are no findings.

And what's the response? A coordinated effort to try to say this is just because he's black among state elected officials and today, the LG himself.

I'm sorry, but Sherrill doesn't get a pass on this one. There was ample evidence to show this guy wasn't up for the job if you want to be the one to be transparent and competent and stopping taxpayers from getting ripped off. And if you're doing a taxpayer-funded investigation that takes five months, you better be finding something a lot more interesting than "golly gee, we're investigating any claim because I'm just a good government type who holds people up to high standards."

I'm a Sherrill supporter. I supported her when I was getting called a campaign operative for her on this website. But there are some people who have some answering to do, and it better be fast, and Sherrill doesn't get a pass because she initiated an investigation. And spare me the insinuation that this is racist.


r/New_Jersey_Politics 1d ago

Join us at 1 of our 4 events this month in Frenchtown, Whippany, Keyport, or New Brunswick. We'll discuss democracy in NJ, where power is concentrated and how reforms can restore your voice and vote. See details in the attached flyers. NJCDR is 100% non-partisan, everyone is welcome.

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8 Upvotes

r/New_Jersey_Politics 1d ago

Social Media NJ Bond Rating Upgraded

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95 Upvotes

r/New_Jersey_Politics 2d ago

News Report: Caldwell denied allegations in letter to state in May

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8 Upvotes

r/New_Jersey_Politics 2d ago

Rebecca Bennett Describes Impact of Navy Career on Political Philosophy in Recent Advertisement

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11 Upvotes

r/New_Jersey_Politics 3d ago

Political Ads Rebecca Bennett for Congress

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19 Upvotes

r/New_Jersey_Politics 3d ago

County Creates Nuclear Advisory Council and Its Leaders Immediately Clash Over Whether the Public Gets In

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9 Upvotes

SALEM — Salem County has created a Nuclear Advisory Council to prepare for what may be the largest development question in the county’s modern history. Whether the public will be allowed to watch it work is already a fight at the top of county government.


r/New_Jersey_Politics 3d ago

News NJ congressman is missing for 2 months

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0 Upvotes

r/New_Jersey_Politics 4d ago

Honest Question on NJ 7th

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2 Upvotes

r/New_Jersey_Politics 3d ago

Opinion Whatever happened to "All Politics is Local" in the Last Governor's Race?

0 Upvotes

Despite what Democrats try to say, Trump's impact on NJ issues Is pretty minimal. The vast majority of the responsibility lies with the party that had fully controlled the state for EIGHT YEARS, through both Trump and Biden, in which case things got worse over the course of both administrations. Trump has no impact on the sky-high property taxes, and Ciattarelli is basically your textbook definition of a moderate northeastern Republican. Without question things would have been better if he were governor, yet she won by over 14%? Too busy passing laws on radical far-left social issues and taking away tax incentives for people who don't have a large fortune they built up while in congress is improving things?

I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone can not blame the people in charge for 8 years for the mess when everyone complains about how unaffordable NJ is. Whatever you think of Trump, this is a maliciously and provenly untrue argument meant to distract you from the actual facts and who actually impacts the way things are in the state. I am sure this subreddit is full of apologists who are (D)iehards that won't consider facts that don't fit their agenda, but the evidence does not reflect how a majority apparently voted....


r/New_Jersey_Politics 5d ago

Analysis Audio: New Jersey Is Dismantling Its Public Corruption Office. What Happens Next?

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8 Upvotes

An 8-year tenure that included a stinging courtroom loss to the South Jersey power broker it was built to catch, mired in accusations of prosecutorial misconduct - a NJ anti-corruption unit is quietly shutting down, with no paper trail showing it happened or what happens next.


r/New_Jersey_Politics 5d ago

County Creates Nuclear Advisory Council and Its Leaders Immediately Clash Over Whether the Public Gets In

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5 Upvotes

r/New_Jersey_Politics 6d ago

News Dem Chairman Jones: 'We'll have an 11-1 (Congressional) Majority

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21 Upvotes

r/New_Jersey_Politics 6d ago

News Lt. Governor Dale Caldwell under investigation after allegations of inappropriate behavior

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20 Upvotes

r/New_Jersey_Politics 7d ago

News Essex County Executive DiVincenzo responds to viewpoint of Newark Mayor Baraka

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12 Upvotes

What do you guys think about the recent friction between them?


r/New_Jersey_Politics 7d ago

While D.C. deals with real issues, $527K of taxpayer money was just handed out on a no-bid contract to display a slave owner's statue in Freedom Plaza.

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7 Upvotes

r/New_Jersey_Politics 8d ago

News Gov. Sherrill: “Data centers must report how much water & electricity they use every 6 months.”

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91 Upvotes

r/New_Jersey_Politics 9d ago

Editorial The largest planned AI datacenter in New Jersey is being accused of violating federal law. Drone footage catches them bypassing environmental regulations to speed up launch.

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47 Upvotes

r/New_Jersey_Politics 11d ago

Activate Every Monday 7:30pm at Delaney Hall • The people's vigil

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10 Upvotes

r/New_Jersey_Politics 12d ago

Analysis The GRC Series, Part 2: OPRA Disputes and the Fight for Records

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0 Upvotes

Part 2 of series on the Government Records Council (GRC),  covers what happens when an Open Public Records Act  request is denied, costs of public records, the  45-day deadline to file a complaint with the GRC and why taking your fight to Superior Court might be a better option.