Apparently concluding that retiring state Senator Tom Kean, Jr. wants to focus on a 2022 congressional run, Benji Schwartz, spokesman for Malinowski for Congress, offered the following take on Kean’s announcement today:

“Senator Kean announced today that he is giving up serving his constituents in the middle of a pandemic and economic crisis, so he can spend more time advancing his political career without the distraction of public service.

“He is again dodging the responsibility to lead his party away from conspiracy-mongering extremists, because taking that tough stand doesn’t advance his political career. In his desperation to move up the political ladder, he’s doubling down on the cowardice that has kept him at the bottom of the ladder for so many years.

“Not running for reelection allows Kean to avoid hard questions from voters this year about what he and his party stand for, and to spend 2021 fundraising from the same dark money interests and corporations he relied on in his last campaign.

“Kean wants to enjoy all the benefits of his last year in office without any of the accountability — keeping his job just long enough to select members of the congressional redistricting commission, allowing him to pick his own voters and draw himself a map he can win. That is self-serving and corrupt.

“If Kean would rather serve himself than his voters, he should resign now, and let someone else do the work that he won’t.

“Meanwhile, Congressman Malinowski will continue to focus on his responsibilities as a legislator and as a leader, defending New Jersey families and American values. He will do his job, and run on his record, while Kean runs away from both.”