Tom Keene Jr. has not been seen at Capitol Hill since early March, telling close associates that he was dealing with medical issues.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has endorsed U.S. Rep. Thomas Kean Jr., a Republican from New Jersey who is seeking re-election despite mysteriously disappearing from the Capitol for three months.
Trump said the congressman, the son of a former Republican governor of the Garden State, is “working tirelessly” despite losing more than 100 votes in the House since early March.
“He will never let you down!” the president wrote in a June 1 social media post.
Mr. Keene is running for a third term in Congress and is campaigning unopposed in the Republican primary on June 2nd, but there is a competitive general election coming up in November. Long before the absentee controversy, last year’s bipartisan Cook Political Report flipped the general election outlook in Keene’s district from leaning Republican to flipping.
Keene said he was dealing with medical issues with a good prognosis, but did not provide any details about his condition. He did not respond to requests for comment from USA TODAY.
Even Rep. Mike Johnson, who continues to support Mr. Keene, said the congressman had not told him exactly what was going on with Mr. Keene’s health.
“He has medical issues,” Johnson recently told reporters. “I don’t know the details either, but I have to respect that.”
Tracy DiFrancesco Zaikoff, a local Republican leader in Somerset County, New Jersey, told USA TODAY in a May 26 email that they spoke by phone earlier that week.
“I have confidence in Tom’s ability to move forward and jump into the campaign in the coming weeks,” she wrote. “While I am not familiar with his medical issues, I am confident he will share that information with everyone when he returns. In the meantime, his office continues to work tirelessly to assist his constituents.”
The congressman occasionally posted on his campaign and Congressional social media accounts during his disappearance. On May 29, he remotely introduced a bill to provide federal health coverage for preeclampsia, a complication of pregnancy.
Zachary Schermele is a Congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can email us at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and on Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social..
