After mysterious four-month absence, GOP congressman plans grand return

By Nina Giraldo, Sarah Ferris, CNN

Westfield, New Jersey (CNN) — One day before Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. planned to return to Washington, the long-missing congressman sat on the steps of his tidy Tudor-style home in North Jersey, sifting through mail beside his wife.

Kean, wearing a gray polo, offered a casual wave and headed inside when he noticed a reporter from CNN on his street. Then, he dispatched a spokesperson for his campaign to deliver a message that his own GOP colleagues have been eager to hear for months.

The 57-year-old congressman will be “fully transparent” about his nearly four-month absence when he returns to Washington on Tuesday, spokesperson Harrison Neely told CNN.

Upon his return, the two-term Republican is planning to deliver a floor speech that is expected to address his unexplained health condition, according to a person familiar with the plans. For months, Kean’s family and his aides have said little about his absence except that he is recovering from a medical condition and is “under a doctor’s care,” even as fellow Republicans have publicly urged him to divulge more information.

His absence has rattled House Republicans, who are worried it could complicate the GOP’s ability to hold onto a critical swing seat in an already difficult midterm cycle, multiple sources previously told CNN.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has spoken by phone with Kean and has said publicly that he’s urged Kean to explain his absence to his voters.

Party leaders and senior aides have repeatedly told CNN they do not have any idea where Kean is, 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. He has missed hundreds of votes — many close — since early March.

His interaction with a CNN reporter on Monday appears to be only his second documented sighting in months, after he was first spotted at his Westfield home by The New York Times last week.

In the meantime, senior leadership staff have been left to speculate about his ailment and why he would choose not to disclose it for months. Lawmakers who believed they were close to him have been irked by unreturned messages. Democratic operatives have stepped up their attacks, newly confident they can flip his competitive battleground seat.

It’s not unusual for members of Congress to take medical leave, sometimes unable to vote for weeks at a time. But even GOP aides privately admit they are frustrated with how Kean’s aides have handled his absence, refusing to disclose his health condition and leaving his constituents in the dark.

The New Jersey congressman said in late April on social media that he’s dealing with a “personal medical issue,” without specifying what it is, and said he would be back “very soon.” Late last month, he told The New Jersey Globe that he’d be back in the “next couple of weeks.”

In early June, Kean ran unopposed in a primary, with some GOP operatives privately unsure whether he would be on the ticket in November. Kean’s office said in public statements that he planned to run for reelection.

His Democratic opponent, Rebecca Bennett, has said​ little about Kean’s absence. But the House Democratic campaign chief, Suzan Delbene, has insisted he must be transparent.

“Clearly, I wish him the best, but it is his job also to be transparent with his community and there has been no clarity about why he has been gone so long,” Delbene recently told a group of local reporters, according to The New Jersey Globe.

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