New Jersey’s three congressional Republicans voted to authorize the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden this week, but only one of them is speaking publicly about it.
Reps. Jeff Van Drew, Chris Smith and Tom Kean Jr. all voted in line with their Republican colleagues Wednesday in the strictly partisan 221-212 vote to hold impeachment proceedings.
Republicans allege Biden took government action to help his son Hunter earn money. A Washington Post analysis of the claims found no evidence tying a bribery scheme to the president, who denounced them as a “baseless political stunt.”
Unlike many Republicans in the House, the three New Jersey representatives face competitive elections next year, in districts with a substantial number of Democrats.
The most vulnerable of the three is Kean, a first-term representative from a district that has swung from Republican to Democratic and back to Republican since 2018.
His district has 16,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats, according to the New Jersey Division of Elections.
But his district also has several Democratic activist groups who sprung up after Donald Trump’s first election and volunteer during election season.
Kean has neither spoken publicly about his vote nor sent out a press release nor posted a statement on his website. But his office provided a written statement Friday in response to a request from Gothamist.
“The Constitution provides Congress the duty of being a check on the Executive Branch,” the statement said. “It is crucial that our leaders uphold the values of transparency and cooperation in our democracy. Unfortunately, President Biden’s obstruction in ongoing investigations has led me to support this necessary step towards accountability and openness.”
Van Drew has taken a different tack, appearing in an impeachment video released by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, posting it to his Facebook page, and giving an interview to Fox News.
“Where there’s smoke, there’s…
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