BERKELEY HEIGHTS, New Jersey — Tom Kean Jr. …’s political career hangs by a thread. His eventual demise could end a powerful political dynasty and permanently close the door on the aristocratic politics that once dominated the New Jersey Republican Party.
If Kean Jr. lost Tuesday in one of the most closely watched House races in the country, it would be largely because of his alliance with the unpopular president. Donald Trump . And his detractors will not forget that he attacked a president whose policies and divisive political style clash with those of the Kean brand of moderation, civility and inclusion perfected over generations – especially by his father, the popular former governor. Tom Kean Sr. .
Kean’s The fight for survival comes as New Jersey’s old political order crumbles. The “county line,” a voting pattern that gave party leaders’ preferred candidates an advantage in primary elections, is gone. Democratic power men who split their influence between North and South Jersey lost much of their influence. And the republican patrician families who provided generations of elected leaders gradually lost their footing.
The wealthy, upper-middle-class suburbs that supported these Republican families have changed dramatically under the Trump era. Former Republican strongholds like Somerset County, much of which is in Kean’s 7th Congressional District, turned blue. If Kean Jr. loses, it would be at least the third New Jersey Republican dynasty rejected or driven from power since Asset entered the political scene.
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