Tom Kean Jr., a Trump foot soldier, is the District 7 extremist

The battle lines in the race between Rep. Tom Kean Jr. and his Democratic challenger, Sue Altman, are clearly emerging with a month to go.

Kean is the one who doesn’t speak to the press and rarely comes out of his cave to organize events. If you haven’t seen the recent video of him stuck in an elevator with a reporter, it’s must-watch for anyone in the 7th arrondissement. The reporter, Ben Hulac of NJ Spotlight, was unable to get a reaction from Kean on any policy or his support for Donald Trump. “You choose the subject,” Hulac said in desperation. “I’d love to talk to you about anything.”

Ultimately, he asks Kean about the Mets and what he had for lunch, hoping to elicit a human response.

Kean stares ahead, impassive and silent, miserable and trapped. Was it a strategy or a panic attack?

Altman, we are told, is the extremist who wants to defund the police. And she briefly joined this crazy movement, in a tweet posted after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“It’s a slap in the face to our members,” says Wayne Blanchard of the State Troopers Fraternal Association, one of four police unions to support Kean.

Altman aired a television ad that showed her receiving endorsements from the district’s two elected county sheriffs, both Democrats, as well as her uncle, a retired Long Island police officer. She deleted the tweet.

“I am sincerely sorry,” she says now. “It was a reckless and bad policy. It was a reaction at that time.

After talking with police chiefs and district managers — and no doubt consulting surveys — she says she saw the light: Cops need more funding, not less. For recruitment, for training, for community policing. “It’s been a learning process for me,” Altman says.

How can we fix this one? On the one hand, Altman changed her position and apologized, and Kean stands by her support of Trump and her silence. Thus, only Altman’s sin is eligible for forgiveness.

But let’s also take a closer look at who the extremist is in this race. Kean is a Trump loyalist. He has not shown the courage shown by other Republicans who have denounced Trump, from Liz Cheney to Chris Christie. He chooses instead to remain silent and obedient, voting with Trump every time.

It’s extreme. This movement that he supports has suppressed women’s right to abortion, tried to overturn the elections, promises to cancel the fight against climate change and deliver Ukraine to Vladimir Putin. For a more complete list of crazy, see Project 2025.

And let’s focus on law and order. Trump promises to pardon January 6 rioters who injured 141 police officers that day. Altman posted a stupid tweet. What’s worse?

Kean, of course, won’t discuss any of this, either with the press or with his constituents. I suppose he could say it’s unfair to tie him so closely to Trump, that it’s guilt by association. But if he salutes the leader and wears the uniform, isn’t he part of the problem?

Former Rep. Tom Malinowski, who defeated Kean in 2020 and lost a squeaker to him in 2022, puts the onus on Kean: If he wants to establish independence from Trump, he must speak out.

“If he wants to say publicly that Trump is completely wrong to congratulate the January 6 rioters, that he is wrong to say that he will pardon them and that he agrees with the police chiefs of our country on the fact that crime is down, that they are not. “He’s lying to us and he respects the FBI, so he would have the moral authority to criticize something Sue Altman said five years ago,” Malinowski says. “But he doesn’t.”

He said letting Kean off the hook shows partisan bias. “Imagine if there were 50 people in prison for assaulting police officers and a Democrat said they should be pardoned, that they are political prisoners and American heroes,” Malinowski asks. “What would we say? »

This race will explode next month, as both candidates open up their overstuffed war chests. Altman raised $2.1 million last quarter, the second-largest quarterly haul among congressional candidates in state history, behind Rep. Mikie Sherrill. That’s on top of the $2.2 million she had in the bank at the end of June. Kean’s latest figures are not available, but he had $3 million on hand at the end of June and has support from outside groups, including one funded by Elon Musk.

At this point, Kean has an advantage, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, but he remains competitive. Cook changed his rating from “tossup” to “lean Republican.” Dave Wasserman, who analyzes House races for Cook, said voters in the 7th don’t know Altman yet, and that hurts her more than any perception that she’s an extremist.

“She still has a lot of work to do to get voters to know her, and it’s difficult because it’s a very expensive district,” he said.

I became acquainted with Altman after she was removed from a Senate hearing in Trenton by state police in 2019. She was one of the leaders of the protest against George Norcross and the massive relief tax he and his friends received for investing in Camden, now faces criminal indictment. And it was an eventful encounter, with spectators shouting on both sides.

Altman was singled out after Sen. Bob Smith asked state police to restore order, a violation of her free speech rights that proved embarrassing to the Legislature. Even Kean, then a state senator, said it was out of line. It was the most shocking scene I witnessed at the Statehouse.

The charges against Altman were dropped after Trenton police said they lost the ticket issued to him that day. Practical.

The images are, however, broadcast live and one of the curiosities of this race is that both camps are using them in television advertisements. For Altman, a professional basketball player in her day, the photos of her struggling against soldiers as they carried her, the moment shows a passion for the cause, and Norcross’s indictment shows that she was right. For Kean’s crew, this could strengthen the accusation of extremism.

But the extremist in this race does not shout or protest. He wears a tie and a jacket. He doesn’t say a word. But he is a loyal foot soldier of the most dangerous and reckless leader in American history. In comparison, a crazy tweet doesn’t amount to much.

More: Chronicles of Tom Moran

Tom Moran can be contacted at [email protected] or (973) 986-6951. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Notice on Facebook.

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