Republican Tom Kean Jr. said he was treated for depression during absence from Congress

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 11:22 AM EDT, June 30, 2026


WASHINGTON (AP) — New Jersey Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. revealed Tuesday that he spent months away from Congress being treated for depression. “It is physical, it is emotional, and until you experience it yourself, it is difficult to fully understand how powerful this illness can be,” he said on the House floor.

Kean’s reappearance comes after he won an uncontested primary on June 2 and months since he last voted in the House. “Today I stand before you healthier, stronger and excited to return to the work that I love,” Kean said.

A second-term lawmaker and scion of a New Jersey political family, Kean represents a battleground district that includes President Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club. He’s missed more than 100 votes in Congress this year and hadn’t been seen publicly in Washington or his district despite winning the Republican nomination to serve another term.

The mystery over Kean’s absence carries potential political implications, given the competitive district he represents and the Republican Party’s narrow control of the House. His office has said he is still running for reelection and is set to face Democratic nominee Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, in New Jersey’s most high-profile contest in November.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/tom-kean-jr-new-jersey-congress-e7c40a55f06df86228f3646441532444

[FSogol]

1. His depression was only helped by doing insider trading and stock transfers during his recovery.

He looks forward to getting back to the office where he can expand his griftting and help support even bigger con men in his party.

[walkingman]

2. Guilt is debilitating. These folks know their actions are despicable and it wears on their conscience.

[RockCreek]

15. one hopes...

But I believe that many don't feel guilt. They are amoral or immoral, so they don't recognize that there is anything to feel guilty for.

[PatSeg]

21. I wish I could say you're wrong

But apparently there are many who never feel guilt, just regrets when they don't succeed.

[RockCreek]

32. Or anger when they don't succeed

Which can be directed outwards.
Sociopaths.

[PatSeg]

36. Oh yes, the anger is much worse

We've seen that from TFG over and over again.

[electric_blue68]

31. I don't think many feel guilty.

[QueerDuck]

3. I'm not buying it.

[karynnj]

5. I am

I don't think lying about being depressed would be a first choice for any politician. I know this is not 1972, when an excellent Senator was pushed off the ballot because he had electroshock therapy for depression.

Not to mention, it had to be pretty severe to make him disappear for about 100 days. It also seems like it would be difficult to go from that level of treatment to campaigning.

[Miguelito Loveless]

9. Agreed

Also, for a Republican to admit to a mental illness is something.

That said, depression is certainly exacerbated by doing horrible things you know are wrong.

[QueerDuck]

11. You're right... depression is less stigmatized than it was in the past...

... it's genuine sufferers are given much leeway and hyper-respectful privacy and sympathy. I think that's what he's counting on in order to hide whatever the actual reason is. Whatever he's hiding he's hoping that he can prevent people from looking too closely.

Maybe.

[Torchlight]

4. I have zero reason to believe he's is being truthful

Fingers crossed it doesn't hurt when he urinates anymore, and he's able to replace his kids' nanny soon.

[maxsolomon]

6. Hopefully they zapped a conscience back into him.

If not, keep zapping him.

[lamp_shade]

7. oh sure

[bluestarone]

8. Well the ONLY thing that's depressing is tRUMP, and he could have been in the congress

To HELP us un=depress the whole fucking thing!! What a shit head.

[YorkRd]

10. Shouldn't he have told the voters before the primary that he had this problem?

[WestMichRad]

33. You mean, be honest with them?

[tanyev]

12. Looking forward to him becoming a strong advocate for mental health care for everyone

who can’t afford the treatment he got.

Oh, yes —>

[yardwork]

22. My first thought also.

I wonder how he's voted on bills involving mental health care. But I'm not going to bother looking it up. He's part of the Republican Party and they're all guilty by association as far as I'm concerned.

[hlthe2b]

13. Well, I gave Fetterman every bit of benefit-of-the-doubt possible with his depression post stroke

I still think that was right to do for someone with documented mental distress. But, despite how I feel about him now (my disdain now is red hot, but not because of his past illness), he was honest at the time (via his wife and staff) about what was happening.

I think to earn that benefit-of-the-doubt someone in public service needs to be honest about what is happening.

This guy was anything, but honest... But, his constituents can decide, I guess. I think a forensic review of his finances may be in order, given the rumors of insider trading the past months...

[dalton99a]

14. His mistress dumped him

[chowder66]

16. Mike Johnson said...."What he's dealing with is not very common and not a big thing."

"I do know what his health issue is but he's asked me not to disclose that and I'm going to honor that," Johnson said at a news conference on June 3. "What he's dealing with is not very common and not a big thing."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tom-kean-missing-illness-returns-congress/

Not common? Not a big thing? Hmmmmmm

[yardwork]

23. So, Mike Johnson lied twice in that sentence.

About par for him.

[slightlv]

25. And it's the one malady that RFK doesn't believes exists... and he wants

to cut back or cut out the meds for it! So, for the R's, it's not enough to just bankrupt the economy of the entire country, they want to drive everyone completely crazy, too.

[hamsterjill]

17. So, he should be doing all that he can to make mental health care available to all who need it right?

Yeah, right.

[TexasBushwhacker]

18. As someone who's lived with treatment resistant depression

For over 40 year, have been hospitalized several times, all I can say is he must have great insurance! My longest stay was 10 days.

[markpkessinger]

39. It's way beyond having great insurance . . .

. . . This guy disappeared from his job for four months, while receiving full salary, and while offering not even so much as a cursory explanation to his constituents.. Now he waltzes back in and resume work as if nothing had happened.

Could any private sector employee get away with this? Not on your life! And will Kean now support legislation that would extend this kind of fully paid, mental health leave to private sector employees? Well, don't hold your breath!

[mcar]

19. How lovely for him that he has gold-plated healthcare

to help him through.

[BaronChocula]

20. He's not the absolute worst of the worst of his lot

I think part of what sustains him in his district is his dad's reputation.
But I do hope Rebecca Bennett gives him the opportunity of an extended sabbatical in November.

[pat_k]

29. She has a serious shot

Great interview interview with Simon Rosenberg.

Democratic Underground for Rebecca Bennett NJ -07: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/duforrebecca-bennett-nj26/

And her "MAGA lies" video:

[BaronChocula]

35. I do like Rosenberg's optimism

Some people equate optimism with complacency or "complaicance" as I was once accused on here. Optimism doesn't guarantee victory, but it does project confidence which some voters do find attractive.

And as I type this, I'm hearing Bennett in the interview saying she is optimistic that we can leave things better than we found them (8:30).

Well, she makes me feel optimistic about November.

[pat_k]

37. Watching his interviews with candidates always leaves me more hopeful

It feels like we are watching the birth of a new Democratic Party. For so long there has been a "scarcity" survival mentality where we narrowed our focus further and further. In our current crisis, people -- really good people -- are stepping up and running in places they probably haven't seen a Democrat in ages. Any in-roads we make will be a victory we can build on.

Hope is the life's blood of any resistance. Hope in the face of adversity inspires action. And action feeds hope. A virtuous cycle I see gaining momentum.

They want us overwhelmed and immobilized by cynicism and hopelessness. The more of us who refuse to go there, the better our chances of making the next decade the birth of a new, better era grounded in the fundamental values of our liberal democracy.

And a liberal democracy that collectively chooses to socialize certain segments does not make this a socialist county.

Making America a nation we can be proud of is all about building a government that protects our individual rights while providing the public infrastructure and services we choose to provide ourselves.

In the course of our history these fundamental principles are a constant and central to our identity as a nation.

It is the fascist corporatists that are seeking to destroy the character of this nation.

As long as we are clear about these basics, we will build a new majority coalition.

[BaronChocula]

38. "As long as we are clear about these basics, we will build a new majority coalition."

Right on!
I don't really get the fighting over progressive bona fides of candidates. All the candidates I see share all the basics. The up and coming Democratic Socialists would be mainstream in a lot of other countries. Maybe I'm a Democratic Socialist at heart. But I'm happy and hopeful for candidates like Rebecca Bennett doing what they're doing where they are doing it. I think it would be great if Rebecca Bennett supported Medicare for All, for example. I don't know where she is on that, but I know her expertise and her take on health care is better than Kean's.

[pat_k]

40. I suspect the beltway news media blather on the divisions

...is exaggerated -- making mountains of molehills when a vast majority of our electeds understand that diverse candidates who connect with their respective electorates are what makes for a strong Democratic Party.

And I think we all need to be calling bullshit on the "leftist" labeling when the positions are, in fact, right in the center of our politics -- and represent a central throughline across our history. We need more letters to editors and comments in newsfeeds. Heather Cox Richardson nails it in this explainer:

[bucolic_frolic]

26. Recall what they did to Senator Tom Eagleton

Hopefully society has a more appropriate response to mental health today.

[pat_k]

27. Show support for Rebecca Bennett!!

This one means a lot to me. I lived in Westfield, NJ for 20 years, from 1995 to 2015.

Democratic Underground for Rebecca Bennett NJ -07: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/duforrebecca-bennett-nj26/

[rampartd]

28. lemme guess. kean wants to cut medicare/medicaid for depression?

do his employees get 40 days sick leave?

i hope his constituents remember this stuff.

[fargone]

30. Closer to 80 days excluding weekends

[EuterpeThelo]

34. Right!?!

Wish I could take extended months off in a row from my (much more stressful than his) job and get primo healthcare treatment on someone else's dime.

[Rhiannon12866]

41. Rep. Tom Kean Jr. Returns to Congress and Discloses Depression Diagnosis - C-SPAN

Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) returns to Congress, last voting on March 5th: "I was given the diagnosis of depression...it is physical, it is emotional and until you've experience it yourself it is difficult to fully understand how powerful this illness can be." - Aired on 06/30/2026.

[Blumancru]

42. Hell if I woke up and found I was from the same party as Cheetolini

They’d be treating me for depression too.