Absent Rep. Tom Kean’s Stock Trading Draws DCCC Attack Ad (1)

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is launching its first general election attack ad against Rep. Tom Kean (R-N.J.) on Friday, targeting him for trading stocks while missing votes in Washington.

The release of the ad, shared first with Bloomberg Government, coincides with the three-month mark since Kean has voted in the House. In a statement posted to his social media Tuesday, the congressman said he would return to in-person work in a “matter of weeks” after dealing with an unspecified health issue.

DCCC spokesperon Eli Cousin said in a statement Kean “represents everything that’s wrong with a broken and corrupt Washington.”

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s ad attacking Rep. Tom Kean (R-N.J.) for trading stocks while out on medical leave.

Photo courtesy of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

Kean won his primary unopposed earlier this week and will face Democrat Rebecca Bennett in the general election in November. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as a toss-up.

Kean has made about a dozen stock trades since his last vote in Congress in early March, according to Quiver Quantitative, a site that compiles lawmaker trade disclosures. Among the shares bought and sold include Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo Inc., and Chubb Ltd.

Stock trading was a centerpiece of Kean’s ascent to Congress. He defeated then-Rep. Tom Malinowski in 2022 after Malinowski faced an ethics controversy over his failure to disclose properly stock trades.

Kean has sponsored bipartisan legislation to ban members of Congress from engaging in short selling stocks, but he is not a cosponsor of the Stop Insider Trading Act, Republicans’ preferred bill for banning congressional stock trading. Bipartisan efforts to ban congressional stock trading through various pieces of legislation have stalled on Capitol Hill.

Kean’s office didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

The DCCC’s five-figure ad buy against Kean will run for two weeks on Meta Platforms Inc. sites, including Instagram and Facebook, and will target voters in New Jersey’s 7th District.

“While Democrats are busy making ‘ads’ in Clip Art, they missed the facts: making life safer and more affordable for New Jersey families has always been Kean Jr.’s top priority in Congress,” said Maureen O’Toole, spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The NRCC pointed to a July 2025 New Jersey Globe article citing a letter from Kean’s attorney to the House Ethics Committee stating that the lawmaker’s assets are managed by independent professionals “without his input, prior knowledge, or direction.”

The New Jersey congressman is the second Republican lawmaker targeted by the DCCC over stock trading. The campaign has run multiple ads against Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.), who has come under scrutiny for campaigning against stock trading but actively trading stocks.

House GOP leadership has been forced to field questions on Kean’s health for weeks, with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) saying Wednesday that he’s aware of his colleague’s health issue but Kean asked him not to share it publicly.

“It’s not a scandalous thing at all,” the speaker said, adding, “he has been a phenomenal member of Congress, and a great member to our team.”