A New York Times reporter says she was denied entry to a campaign event in New Jersey for Republican lawmaker Tom Kean and had the police called on her, despite other journalists being present inside.
Kean, 57, held a campaign fundraiser at Hawk Point Golf Club in Washington Township Friday, where Speaker of the House Mike Johnson made an appearance.
Tracey Tully, a Times reporter who has covered New Jersey for 20 years, said she was turned away from Kean’s event and was told it was private, despite Fox News reporter Liz Elkind and a local Pennsylvania-based TV reporter being present inside.
Tully waited in the parking lot, hoping to speak with Kean, the Times reported, before she was confronted by local police officers who said someone inside the event had called and claimed she was a trespasser.
Kean, who has described himself as a “private person”, was scrutinized earlier this year for his refusal to be more transparent with constituents after he had an unexplained three-month absence from Congress. After his return to D.C., Kean said he was in treatment for depression.
It is unclear who called the police from Kean’s campaign event or why. Tully reported that New Jersey state troopers were stationed outside the event as Speaker Johnson’s security detail.
The situation appeared to have been remedied quickly after Sgt. Dallas Overko, of the Washington Township Police Department, who responded to the call of a trespasser, said he “didn’t know it was just a nice little reporter waiting for an interview” and that “there were some things lost in communication,” according to the Times.
Tully reported that she was unable to speak with Kean, and that the New Jersey lawmaker’s office has declined the newspaper’s other requests for interviews.
The Independent has asked Kean’s office for comment.
However, Tully did interview Speaker Johnson in the parking lot as he exited the event Friday, who suggested that Kean should have been more forthcoming with voters about his prolonged absence.
“You know, if it were me, I would have done it a little sooner,” Johnson said. “What he was dealing with affects many millions of Americans, so I think people understand that.”
Johnson attended Kean’s event to support his re-election efforts as tries to hold onto his seat in the state’s 7th congressional district, considered a competitive race.
Kean has not publicly addressed the police being called on the Times reporter. However, he did post on X that he has “the most local press engagements of any NJ Member of Congress” and accused his opponent, Democrat Rebecca Bennett, of hiding behind a campaign script.
X users flooded the comments with references to the Times article accusing him of turning Tully away from the event. And New Jersey Rep. Rob Menendez, a Democrat, responded with a video of Kean refusing to answer questions from a local New Jersey reporter on Capitol Hill.
