Thomas Kean Jr.

Thomas Howard Kean Jr. (born September 5, 1968) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from New Jersey's 7th congressional district since 2023. He represented New Jersey's 21st legislative district in the New Jersey Senate from 2003 to 2022, serving as minority leader from 2008 to 2022. A member of the Republican Party, Kean is the son of former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean.

From 2001 to 2003, Kean was a member of the New Jersey General Assembly. In 2003, he was elected a New Jersey state senator representing the same district, and in January 2008 he became minority leader of the New Jersey Senate, serving in the position until his term ended in January 2022. After Governor Chris Christie was reelected in 2013, Christie tried and failed to remove Kean as minority leader. Kean was frequently mentioned as a potential Republican candidate for governor in the 2017 New Jersey gubernatorial election, but did not seek the nomination.

Kean was the Republican nominee for New Jersey's 7th congressional district in 2020, narrowly losing the general election to incumbent Democrat Tom Malinowski. Kean defeated Malinowski in a 2022 rematch. His voting record in Congress has generally been described as moderate.

Ancestry
Thomas Howard Kean Jr.'s father is Thomas Howard Kean, who served as governor of New Jersey from 1982 to 1990. His grandfather is Robert Kean, a former congressman from New Jersey. His great-grandfather Hamilton Fish Kean and great-great-uncle John Kean were both U.S. senators. His grandmother's family are descendants of Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch colonial governor of New Amsterdam (now known as New York). His great-grandmother Katharine Winthrop was a direct descendant of John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He is also a direct descendant of Thomas Dudley, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and a signer of Harvard College's charter. His second great-great-uncle was Hamilton Fish, a U.S. senator, governor of New York, and U.S. Secretary of State. He is also a relative of William Livingston, the first governor of New Jersey. His great-great-great-great-grandfather, John Kean, served in the Continental Congress during the American Revolutionary War, where he advocated ratification of the United States Constitution and was appointed a member of the commission to audit accounts of the Continental Army by General Washington.

Early life
Kean was born in Livingston, New Jersey, one of twin sons of Deborah (née Bye) and Thomas Kean; the couple also had a daughter. Thomas Jr. grew up on the family's estate in Livingston.

Kean graduated from the Pingry School in Basking Ridge. He is also a graduate of Dartmouth College and holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, but left before completing his Ph.D. in international relations. At Dartmouth, he was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity.

Kean was an aide to former Congressman Bob Franks and a special assistant at the United States Environmental Protection Agency in the George H. W. Bush administration. He has also been a volunteer firefighter and a volunteer emergency medical technician.

New Jersey Assembly
Kean was appointed to the General Assembly, the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature, in April 2001, to serve out the unexpired term of Alan Augustine, who had resigned on March 21, 2001, for health reasons. He was elected to a full term in the Assembly in November 2001. In the Assembly, he chaired the Republican Policy Committee and served as vice chair of the State Government Committee.

Tenure
In March 2003, Kean was appointed to the New Jersey Senate to serve out the unexpired term of Rich Bagger, and won election to that Senate seat in November 2003. In 2004, he was elected Senate Minority Whip, a position he held until 2007. He served in the Senate on the Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee. In the state legislature, Kean was a proponent of ethics reform in New Jersey government. He was the original sponsor of legislation banning pay to play practices in New Jersey. He sponsored legislation to streamline government, promote education, protect the environment, and lower property taxes. Kean was one of 24 elected officials chosen as an Aspen Rodel Fellow in Public Service.

In 2002, Kean was named one of 40 state leaders nationwide to be recognized as a Toll Fellow by the Council of State Governments for high achievement and service to state government.

In 2005, the New Jersey Conference of Mayors named Kean a Legislative Leader. He also received, for the second year in a row, the Amerigroup Foundation's Champion for Children award for his advocacy on behalf of children's health issues. He was named Legislator of the year by the Fireman's Benevolent Association and received a 100% voting rating from the National Federation of Independent Business.

Kean was one of six Republicans in the state senate to vote for a 2019 appropriations bill that passed 31 to 6.

Committees

 * Commerce
 * Higher Education
 * Legislative Oversight
 * Legislative Services Commission

2006 U.S. Senate campaign
Kean was the Republican nominee for the United States Senate seat vacated by former U.S. senator and former governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine, a seat now filled by Corzine's designated replacement, Bob Menendez. Kean won the June 6, 2006, primary against John P. Ginty by a 3–1 margin. He lost the general election to Menendez, 53.3% to 44.3%. The race was the narrowest victory for an incumbent Democrat in the U.S. in an election that saw Democrats retake control of the Senate as part of a nationwide backlash against the Bush administration. Kean was endorsed by The Courier-Post, The Press of Atlantic City, and Asbury Park Press.

2000
Kean sought the Republican nomination for New Jersey's 7th congressional district, but lost the primary to Mike Ferguson by about 4,000 votes, finishing second in a field of four candidates.

2020
On April 16, 2019, Kean announced that he was running for New Jersey's 7th congressional district in 2020, challenging first-term Democratic incumbent Tom Malinowski. In the first quarter of 2019, Kean nearly matched Malinowski's fundraising total of over $500,000. In August 2019, Kean was endorsed by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Kean won the Republican primary over token opposition, and narrowly lost to Malinowski in the general election. It was the closest House race in New Jersey and one of the closest in the country; due to the close margin and slow counting of mail-in and provisional ballots, the outcome remained in doubt until nearly two weeks after the election.

2022
Kean announced in February 2021 that he would not seek reelection to the State Senate and immediately became the subject of speculation that he was preparing to run for New Jersey's 7th congressional district again. Malinowski was under scrutiny after his failure to disclose more than 100 stock trades became a national news story and led to a complaint filed with the House Ethics Committee. In redistricting, the 7th district was made more Republican while the neighboring 11th and 5th districts became more solidly Democratic. Kean formally announced his campaign on July 14, 2021, joined by U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. He won the Republican primary in June 2022 and the general election with 51.4% (159,392 votes) to Malinowski's 48.6% (150,701 votes).

Tenure
Kean is a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership, and joined the Problem Solvers Caucus, a centrist House caucus. The caucus has led him to cooperate with other members of Congress from New Jersey, such as Democrats Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill. Kean said he joined the caucus to assure constituents that he remains committed to "working across the aisle". He is a moderate Republican, though detractors have said he could have done more to distance himself from the politics of President Trump. Critics have called Kean out for holding "Telephone Town Halls", especially Sue Altman, the executive director of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance. Others counter that Kean's lesser media presence is a strength. Fred Snowflack of Insider New Jersey reported, "Dating back to last fall’s campaign, most of those griping about Kean’s incommunicado ways were the media and voters who probably were not going to support him anyway".

Committee assignments
For the 118th Congress:
 * Committee on Foreign Affairs
 * Subcommittee on Africa
 * Subcommittee on Europe (Chair)
 * Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
 * Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

Caucus memberships

 * Republican Main Street Partnership
 * Problem Solvers Caucus

Personal life
Kean is an Episcopalian. He resides in Westfield with his wife, Rhonda Lee Norton, and their two daughters.