{"id":645297,"date":"2026-05-15T19:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T19:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/645297\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T19:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T19:48:13","slug":"gop-congressman-is-under-doctors-care-his-father-says-amid-mysterious-absence-from-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/645297\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP congressman is under doctor\u2019s care, his father says amid mysterious absence from Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Top House Republicans have grown increasingly concerned by Rep. Tom Kean Jr.\u2019s mysterious absence<\/a> from the chamber.\n <\/p>\n

\n Now his father, former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean Sr., is seeking to offer assurances that his son will be returning soon \u2014 though he, too, declined to offer any specifics as to why the congressman has been out of the public eye for more than two months.\n <\/p>\n

\n In an interview with CNN, Kean Sr. said his son is recovering from what he described as a serious but temporary illness, pushing back on speculation surrounding the congressman\u2019s prolonged absence from Washington.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cHe\u2019s hopefully coming back soon and he\u2019s under the care of a doctor,\u201d Kean Sr. told CNN by phone, adding he had been seen by several doctors. \u201cThey all agree he\u2019s going to be fine. He\u2019s under a doctor\u2019s care.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt took a real illness to knock him out,\u201d Kean Sr. added. \u201cThis won\u2019t linger. It\u2019s not some kind of disease that\u2019s going to incapacitate him in the future. The consensus is that he will be 100% OK.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Kean Sr. declined to specify the illness and said disclosure decisions are \u201cup to him,\u201d referring to his son.\n <\/p>\n

\n The New Jersey congressman\u2019s office has been equally vague, with his chief of staff saying without elaboration this week that Kean \u201cis still attending to a personal health matter\u201d and will return to a full schedule \u201csoon.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The former governor\u2019s remarks come amid spiking anxiety among top House Republicans about Kean\u2019s absence \u2014 and unusual silence surrounding it on Capitol Hill. Party leaders and senior aides have repeatedly told CNN they do not have any idea where Kean is or what medical condition he may be suffering from, a rarity for a House GOP leadership team tasked with keeping close contact with rank-and-file members as they navigate their historically narrow majority.\n <\/p>\n

\n House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters in Washington Thursday that he had spoken with the congressman about two weeks prior and had a \u201cshort, very positive conversation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cHe sounded great. He said he was, you know, out on a medical issue, and he\u2019ll be back as soon as possible,\u201d Johnson said, adding that Kean Jr. can \u201cof course\u201d run for reelection as he remains absent from Congress.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cLike everyone, sometimes things happen that are out of our control. We have medical issues. We\u2019ve got to deal with them. So that\u2019s what this is,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Privately, both lawmakers and aides have acknowledged it\u2019s becoming a bigger political problem by the week, with Kean\u2019s absence complicating the razor-thin GOP majority \u2014 and potentially jeopardizing the fate of his north Jersey swing seat this November.\n <\/p>\n

\n Even some of his closest colleagues in Congress say they have not heard from him, despite trying to contact him, according to one lawmaker close to Kean.\n <\/p>\n

\n Kean, first elected in 2022, represents New Jersey\u2019s 7th Congressional District, a large, suburban seat seen to be a top pickup opportunity for Democrats in the 2026 midterm election.\n <\/p>\n

\n His primary is June 2 and he is currently the only Republican candidate running. Multiple Democrats, meanwhile, are vying for his seat.\n <\/p>\n

\n For now, Kean chief of staff Dan Scharfenberger said in a statement that \u201cthe Congressman\u2019s team continues to serve the people of New Jersey uninterrupted.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Kean last cast a vote on March 5, according to congressional records, and has since missed dozens of other votes, with his absence fueling rampant questions about his health.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top House Republicans have grown increasingly concerned by Rep. Tom Kean Jr.\u2019s mysterious absence from the chamber. Now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-645297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}