Missing Republican racked up travel expenses — despite going AWOL for months of votes
Congressman-elect Tom Kean Jr. at his election watch party in Basking Ridge on Nov. 8, 2022. (Hal Brown for New Jersey Monitor)
May 22, 2026
A Republican congressman who has been missing for months kept racking up campaign travel expenses despite claiming he can't work due to personal medical issues, according to a new report.
Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) has been absent since early March and has missed 88 House votes, but it hasn't stopped him from traveling, according to reporting by The New Republic.
In mid-April, already a month into his disappearance, Kean paid for trips via Amtrak, Uber, and Lyft, according to reports shared by The New Republic.
The Amtrak trip is listed as being purchased in Washington, D.C., but the ride-share expenses were listed as taking place in San Francisco, the reports reveal.
Kean has also been approving trips to Las Vegas and Middleburg, Virginia, for his staff, according to reporting by NOTUS. Kean signed two "gift travel" disclosures confirming that he authorized trips in March for his chief of staff, Dan Scharfenberger, per NOTUS, which added that special interest groups funded the trips for Kean's staff.
Previous reporting also showed that Kean was still trading stocks during his disappearance. According to NOTUS, the combined value of the stock trades ranged from $50,008 to $190,000.