Free Republic

CLARK – Tom Kean Jr. wants to make sure there’s no doubt about his philosophy. “I’m a Tom Kean Republican,” he said Tuesday night to an overflow crowd jammed into the local American Legion hall. Kean Jr., was announcing his candidacy for the 7th District congressional seat now held by Democrat Tom Malinowski. The reference was to his father, Tom Kean Sr., who served two terms as governor in the 1980’s. The term, “Tom Kean Republican,” is not merely the type of throwaway line one often hears at political gatherings. Over the years in New Jersey politics, it has come...

WASHINGTON — State Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. is expected to run for the U.S. House next year, giving national Republicans a major recruiting success following a midterm where Democrats captured four of the five GOP-held House seats. Kean, R-Union, already has set up a fundraising committee and met with officials of the House Republicans’ political arm advance of his announcement scheduled for Tuesday in Clark. A campaign consultant, Harrison Neely, declined to comment.

Forty-four years ago, Brendan Byrne was elected New Jersey governor, amassing a record plurality of 721,378 votes and, in the process, driving the Republican membership in the General Assembly to a historic low - 14 seats. The partisan divide - 66 Democrats and 14 Republicans - meant the Democratic Party held 83 percent of the seats in the Assembly. For every one Republican, there were five Democrats. It was the kind of electoral beatdown that is almost impossible to absorb and still survive. Senate Republicans were spared the devastation because the state Senate was not on the ballot that year....

TRENTON -- State Senate Republican leader Tom Kean Jr. on Thursday said he'd support an increase in the state's minimum wage in exchange for a middle class tax cut. And he said Gov.-elect Phil Murphy should dump his called-for "millionaire's tax" increase. Kean, R-Union, said he was willing to raise the state's minimum wage to a level that is "modern and fair," but stopped short of agreeing to the $15 per hour sought by Murphy.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie seldom makes a political miscalculation, as even his adversaries acknowledged after the incumbent Republican rolled to 60 percent of the vote to win re-election in a heavily Democratic state. But when the likely 2016 presidential candidate maneuvered to dump Tom Kean Jr. as state Senate Republican leader two days later, he suffered a rare defeat—and alienated the lawmaker’s father, Tom Kean Sr., a GOP elder statesman and popular former governor who gave Christie his political start. “I’m as surprised as I’ve ever been in my life in politics,” Kean, 78, told The Associated Press. Christie...

**SNIP** Nearly 800,000 New Jersey residents’ health-care plans will not longer exist in 2014, forcing insurers to create new ones for individuals and small business owners that hew to the Obamacare’s new regulations, The New Jersey Star Ledger found in early October. “I don’t feel like I need to change, but I have to,” Jeff Learned, a television editor in Los Angeles, told Kaiser Health News. Learned now needs to scramble to find a plan to coverage his teenage daughter, whose health problems have required several surgeries. More Americans have lost their individual health coverage in Florida and California than...

State Sen. Tom Kean Jr., the Republican minority leader, is gunning hard on behalf of his caucus in hopes of winning the five seats necessary to take control of the upper chamber.

UNION CITY, N.J.—In his 30-plus years as a player in New Jersey politics, Senator Robert Menendez has cultivated dozens of friends and allies in positions of influence. But recently, on Sept. 5, one of his allies, a New Jersey business owner and a major fund-raiser for Mr. Menendez, showed up in a curious place: in front of a grand jury in Newark, where he was questioned about the financing of terror bombings in Cuba during the 1990’s. Also appearing in front of the grand jury was the former accountant of a deceased ally and donor for the Senator. The fund-raiser,...

Some people get mad at me when I tell them not to vote. But I believe there is a right time to abstain from casting a ballot – particularly if the only choice is a Democrat or Republican who are indistinguishable on the major issues of the day. A good example of a race where a protest vote for a third party candidate or a non-vote would be the right thing to do on Election Day is the New Jersey Senate race between incumbent Robert Menendez, the Democrat, and Republican challenger Thomas Kean Jr. (Column continues below) Pollsters say the...

New Jersey, dominated by Democrats in recent elections, has become the best Republican prospect for winning a Democratic-held Senate seat this year. New polls last week indicated appointive Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez falling back to an even race with his Republican challenger, state Sen. Tom Kean Jr. Quinnipiac University's poll showed Kean gaining nine percentage points in one month to take a two-point lead. The Monmouth University/Gannett poll's first Senate survey had Kean trailing Menendez by one point, but enjoying a 15-point lead among key independent voters. Kean's edge in the Quinnipiac survey marked the first time a New Jersey...

The Republican candidate for the United States Senate in New Jersey, Thomas H. Kean Jr., intends to make a campaign film that accuses his Democratic opponent, Robert Menendez, of "being wrapped up in the rackets for 30 years" despite public records and statements by former federal prosecutors that contradict Mr. Kean's most serious charges. Mr. Kean's chief campaign consultant, Matt Leonardo, a strategist for Republican candidates, disclosed the plans in an interview and said the film would be "very similar" in purpose to the commercials used to attack the military record of John Kerry during the 2004 presidential race. Kean...

Tom Kean's Amnesty Statement at Liberty State Park in Jersey City (05/17/06): "I am pleased to be here today at Liberty State Park, one of New Jersey’s most inspiring historical sites. Standing here less than two thousand feet from the Statue of Liberty, I cannot think of a more poignant setting to remind New Jerseyans of our country's strong immigrant tradition. But while we are a nation of immigrants, we are also a nation of laws. Over the last several weeks, I have spoken about the need for immigration reform. I have talked about the problems with our porous borders...

In New Jersey's U.S. Senate campaign, Republican Tom Kean, Jr. (R) now leads Senator Robert Menendez (D) by just three points, 40% to 37%. Last month, Kean, the son of the former governor, led 43% to 36%. But most of our polls of this race have shown toss-ups. Menendez is the incumbent, but an appointee, and a recent one. He was installed in January 2006 when fellow Democrat Jon Corzine left the U.S. Senate to become the state's Governor.

1. If the election were held today, whom would you support Robert Menendez, the Democrat, or Thomas Kean Jr., the Republican? Thomas Kean, Jr. 35% Robert Menendez 35% Undecided 30%

In Rhode Island, Chafee Leads by Double Digits A new Rhode Island College poll shows Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) with a double-digit lead over Sheldon Whitehouse (D), 51% to 32%. When Steve Laffey (R) is the GOP nominee, Whitehouse wins, 50% to 27%. However, in the GOP primary Chafee is ahead of Laffey by a wide margin, 56% to 28%. In Pennsylvania, Santorum Continues to Trail The latest Rasmussen Reports poll shows Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) trailing rival Bob Casey (D) by 13 percentage points, 51% to 38%. "Santorum is struggling with his base, consistently earning less than 70% of...

April 18, 2006--The son of former Governor Tom Kean (R) now has a seven percentage point advantage in New Jersey's U.S. Senate campaign. The latest Rasmussen Reports election poll in the Garden State shows Republican Tom Kean, Jr. leading Senator Robert Menendez (D) 43% to 36%. Seven percent (7%) of voters say that they will vote for some other candidate and 14% remain undecided in this Democratic leaning state. A month ago, Kean held a two-point advantage, 41% to 39%. Kean has solidified support among Republicans since our last poll while Menendez has lost ground among Democrats. From an ideological...

1. If the election for United States Senator was held today, whom would you support Robert Menendez, the Democrat or Tom Kean, Jr., the Republican? Tom Kean Jr. 34% Robert Menendez 32% Undecided 34%

For the last five months, State Senator Thomas H. Kean Jr., the son of a revered former governor, has trained all of his political fire at the feisty Democratic power broker he wants to unseat, United States Senator Robert Menendez. But now, in a twist, it appears that Mr. Kean will have to contend first with a political distraction that he worked for more than a year to avoid: a challenger in the Republican primary. The potential challenger's name is John P. Ginty, and he is a 41-year-old financial data analyst and former president of the Ridgewood Republican Club who...

TRENTON, N.J. - Republican Tom Kean Jr. can thank New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine's unpopular budget proposals for his slight edge over Democrat Robert Menendez in the 2006 U.S. Senate race, according to a poll released Thursday. A Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll gives Kean Jr., a state senator, a 42-38 percent lead over Menendez, who was appointed by Corzine to serve out the remaining year of his U.S. Senate term. Last month, Menendez led Kean by five points in a PublicMind poll, 42-37 percent. Poll director Peter Woolley said that right now voters' preferences for the candidates are being...

The U.S. Senate race remains a toss-up in the early going with 20% of all voters having no preference at this time. The latest Rasmussen Reports election poll shows Republican Tom Kean, Jr. earning 41% of the vote while Democrat Robert Menendez attracting support from 39%.