A large group of local weeklies are backing Kean for a second term

A prestigious chain of weekly print newspapers with a large readership in Morris, Somerset and Hunterdon counties that has endorsed Democrat Tom Malinowski for Congress three times has endorsed Republican Rep. Tom Kean, Jr. (R- Westfield) for re-election to a second term in New Jersey’s 7th District.

“Waiting for Kean to fall on the sword by openly denouncing Donald Trump is an unrealistic Democratic fantasy; is the same as urging him to resign or switch parties,” New Jersey Hills Media Group said in their first endorsement of Kean.

The non-profit New Jersey Local Media Corporation operates fourteen community newspapers, including the Bernardsville News, Echoes-Sentinel in Watchung and Warren, Hunterdon Review, Mount Olive Chronicle, Observer-Tribune in Mendhams and Chesters, and the Roxbury Register in NJ-7.

Local newspaper editorials probably have more influence than the lightly trafficked Star-Ledger and Gannett chain. New Jersey Hills Media Group ran editorials in all of their print editions. In contrast, Gannett did not endorse Democratic challenger Sue Altman in the two 7th District dailies: the Daily Record and the Courier News.

The newspaper chain said Kean, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, had been a “vocal supporter of helping Ukraine in its war against Vladimir Putin’s Russia” and noted that the post would be “critical if Trump is elected with a The Republican Senate and House are likely to require a high level of political courage if Trump follows through on his isolationist and anti-NATO rhetoric.”

And they noted that Kean was “a vote of confidence for House Speakers Kevin McCarthy and Mike Johnson in their intra-party battles with the Republican Right to keep the federal government running.”

The endorsement praised Altman for leading “an aggressive campaign focused on abortion rights.”

“She blasted Kean for his failure to hold town hall meetings and give regular press interviews until recently,” the paper wrote.

The opinion came with a caveat for Kean if he wins and returns to them as a candidate for re-election in 2026.

“We will expect Kean to demonstrate that courage and independence in a second term — the same independence he gave when he clashed with Republican Gov. Christie — to be more accessible to the media and his constituents through open public meetings,” New Jersey Hills Media wrote in its opinion.

New Jersey Hills Media Group endorsed Malinowski in 2018 against five-term Rep. Leonard Lance and against Kean in 2020 and 2022.