Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) crossed President Donald Trump on Sunday by not supporting the president’s policy agenda during the first and only televised debate in the competitive race for New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District.
Kean is on a difficult journey to the general election in November, as the congressman was absent from the House floor for months as he battled depression. During a debate hosted by the New Jersey Globe, a local news outlet, Kean went head-to-head with his Democratic competitor, Rebecca Bennett.
Throughout the 90-minute debate, Kean touted his ability to work across the aisle while also turning on Trump’s policies, including a planned Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in the state.
“My focus is to make sure we don’t have an ICE facility in Roxbury,” Kean said, despite the facility having the support of the Trump administration.
The ICE facility has faced bipartisan pushback since it was announced earlier this year. The federal government abandoned plans to move forward with the facility in June 2026, but reversed course one month later. Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and Roxbury Township filed a lawsuit against ICE and the Department of Homeland Security over plans to convert the warehouse into an immigration detention center.
Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, has long spoken out against the facility. She noted that Kean’s opposition on Sunday was the first time he had spoken on the issue.
Kean, who was endorsed by Trump, also abandoned the president’s position on the Gateway Tunnel project, a $16 billion plan to build two new rail tunnels underneath the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York.
Trump has been a staunch critic of the project, framing it as too expensive and a “boondoggle.” The administration attempted to block the project from moving forward by halting funding, but a federal judge ultimately blocked the effort.
“I will challenge anybody who gets in my way, including this president,” Kean said during the debate.
A more trivial matter, Kean also said he would not abide by Trump’s new name for Lake Ontario, which the president rebranded to “Lake America” amid a trade dispute with Canada.
“I call it Lake Ontario,” Kean said.
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Kean, who has served two terms in the House since 2023, defeated his challenger, Democrat Susan Altman, in 2024 by a 5.4-point margin. In 2022, Kean flipped New Jersey’s 7th District from blue to red, defeating former Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski by a 2.8-point margin.
But the race to keep his seat in 2026 faces a new challenge after Kean’s prolonged absence in the spring. During the debate, the congressman emphasized that he was experiencing a “medical emergency” and that he was being transparent with constituents. Bennett, however, said she “would have been more transparent” about her health if she were in office.