By Matt Rooney
Tom Kean Jr. missed months of congressional votes while receiving treatment for depression. Fair or not, it’s arguably a leading reason why NJ-07 is a nailbiter this year.
Did you know that Mikie Sherrill actually missed more votes during the year she ran for governor?
But guess which one became the “invisible” congressman, Save Jerseyans?
Here are the numbers: Sherrill missed 171 of 303 House votes counted during her service in 2025 — 56.4%. She missed more votes than she cast.
Kean’s available 2026 tally, from a compilation dated October 3rd, shows 144 missed votes out of 314 — 45.9%. His year isn’t over, so this is a comparison of the available records. Sherrill nevertheless leads by 27 missed votes and roughly 10.5 percentage points.
Kean returned June 30th and disclosed his treatment for depression. Sherrill spent 2025 pursuing her next job.
Now consider the headlines…
New York Magazine: “Can an Invisible Congressman Win Reelection?”
The Guardian: “Tom Kean had everything going for him. Then the Republican New Jersey congressman disappeared.”
“Invisible.” “Disappeared.”
Those words do more than describe missed votes. They turn an absence into an identity. Kean isn’t simply a congressman who required medical treatment and handled the public explanation poorly. He becomes a disappearing act. A punchline. Someone whose very legitimacy is in question.
That’s the lesson here for anyone who thinks the legacy media’s declining influence means its power is gone.
They can still select the defining adjective. Repeat it. Put it in the headline. Make everyone else answer questions on their terms.
Then the Republican spends his time explaining why he isn’t “invisible,” while the Democrat with the worse attendance record gets to discuss her next promotion.
No fabricated statistic required. Just editorial choices about which facts deserve a spotlight and which deserve a passing mention.
You can criticize Kean’s communication. You can demand accountability for missed votes. You can argue that constituents deserved better.
But Sherrill missed MORE votes in these records, folks. If attendance is the standard, she fails it more dramatically.
The legacy media has lost plenty of power. Its ability to tell voters which politician deserves to become a scandal? Don’t underestimate it.
