Tom Kean Jr. Returns to Congress After Depression Diagnosis and Hospital Testing

Rep. Tom Kean Jr. returned to the House floor on Tuesday after nearly four months away and said he was absent because he was “given the diagnosis of depression.”

Kean said he entered the hospital “for some testing” after health concerns and that doctors recommended he remain in the hospital, while he told the House he did not believe the stay would be long-term.

ABC News

He said his floor speech ended speculation that had followed his last vote on March 5, and Axios reported that his disappearance left New Jersey’s 7th District without a voting representative for more than 100 days.

Kean also said there is “no timeline for healing” and “no timeline for recovery,” framing his return as the result of recovery work rather than a quick return to duty.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he would leave it to Kean to decide whether his remarks provided sufficient transparency, telling reporters, “He spoke to it.”

Johnson also said in a separate comment that “If it were me, I would have been more specific about that, and I encouraged him to be,” while the AP reported Kean left the Capitol quickly after his speech without answering reporters’ questions.

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Democrats and others criticized the months-long lack of detail, and New York Rep. Ritchie Torres wrote after Kean’s remarks that “public office carries a duty of transparency.”

In a different framing of the same episode, the Washington Post described Kean’s absence as a months-long period during which readers criticized him for “his extended absence due to depression,” focusing on “issues of transparency and privilege.”

Kean’s disclosure came as he prepares for the November election in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District against Democratic nominee Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, with the AP reporting that Trump endorsed Kean’s reelection without mentioning his absence.

“Republican Tom Kean Jr”

AP News

The AP said Kean’s absence complicated House Republican leaders’ efforts to pass bills with their “threadbare majority,” and it noted that Kean’s office said he was still running for reelection.

In the campaign context, Insider NJ argued that Kean returned to Congress after getting the health care he voted to cut, saying he “voted to strip Medicaid — the nation’s largest provider of mental health services in the country — away from 240,000 New Jerseyans.”

That same outlet quoted a New Jersey mother, Theresa, saying, “However, Congressman Tom Kean Jr. supported the Republican Tax Law which has sent my own mental health into a tailspin,” while Unrig Our Economy Campaign Director Leor Tal said Kean “has voted for policies that would make it harder for millions of families to access health care.”