The Tom Kean Jr. for Congress campaign website includes a hard-to-find, seemingly hidden-away page that outlines staunchly conservative positions on voting issues — in stark contrast to more moderate views the Congressional candidate promotes on the rest of the site.
There’s no link to the page in the site’s navigation. The campaign for Democrat Tom Malinowski — fighting to hold onto the 7th Congressional District seat after flipping it blue in 2018 — says the website’s URL has been emailed directly to some voters, though Gothamist hasn’t seen those emails firsthand. A voter who received the email tipped off Malinowski, the Democrat’s campaign says.
Tom Kean Jr. is a former state senator and the son and namesake of a popular former governor in New Jersey. His father earned a reputation as a moderate who appealed to independents and even many Democrats.
Kean Jr. came within 5,000 votes of defeating Malinowski the last time they faced off in 2020. And the 2021 redrawing of congressional maps has transferred an additional 30,000 registered Republicans into the district. That led The Cook Political Report to classify the race as leaning Republican, making it one of the races around the country that could help Republicans take majority control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
On TomKean.com, the campaign says Kean Jr. would end wasteful spending, promote American industry, support middle-class tax relief, and back energy independence — palatable positions for most voters.
But add a slash and “kean-conservative” to the URL, and the platform takes a turn to the right.
On that page, Kean Jr. says he wants to stop critical race theory in schools. He laments criminals and drugs coming across the border. And he takes a stand on abortion.
“Tom is a fierce defender of the sanctity of life, fighting every step of the way to protect the unborn from egregious abortion laws proposed in New Jersey, and will continue to do so in Congress,” the hidden page says. The New Jersey Legislature affirmed the right to abortion earlier this year. In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation that provides legal protections to people who travel from other states for abortions.
Voters only have so much to go on beyond what they see on the site. So far, the only public event Kean Jr. has held was for donors — reporters were not allowed in. And he hasn’t responded to requests for an interview.
The Malinowski campaign says its own analysis shows Kean Jr.’s hidden page has been up since the June primary, unchanged. The “Wayback Machine,” which shows the history of websites on Archive.org, only started recording snapshots of it in early September. That site’s archives of the Kean Jr. website overall don’t show any time the page was ever accessible through the site’s navigation.
Read More: Tale of 2 Tom Keans? Republican in NJ-7 congressional race shows right-wing side on hidden webpage