Incumbent Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.), a swing-district lawmaker who took a four-month absence from Congress while he said he was being treated for depression, squared off in a debate with Democrat Rebecca Bennett on Sunday, defending his support of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the war with Iran.
Kean’s Sunday night debate with Bennett is his first and only scheduled debate with his rival, who leads in the only poll taken of the race by 5 percent.
Bennett, a Navy veteran who later worked as a healthcare executive, is a political newcomer. She won a competitive primary for the nomination in June, following a campaign that was seen as more moderate and electable in the purple district. …