Scrutiny ramps up over mystery of missing lawmakers
by Emily Brooks - 05/15/26 6:00 AM ET
Scrutiny of lawmakers absent from Washington due to mysterious health issues is ramping up as two House members — Reps. Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.) and Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) — have missed weeks of votes.
The absences come as leaders in both parties are encouraging full participation from their members, given the razor-thin margins in the House.
And in the instance of Kean, who represents a swing district, the absence could affect his reelection campaign and, by extension, the balance of power in Congress next year.
Kean, 57, has not voted since March 5 due to what his campaign called a “personal medical issue,” without further elaboration. And while an April 27 statement said he expects to “return to a full schedule and be at 100 percent” in the “near future,” he remained absent as the House returned this week.
Wilson, 83, has not voted since April 17, though she is expected back in the Capitol next week.
Her monthlong absence went largely unexplained and unnoticed until reporter Jamie Dupree noted her absence in a post on the social platform X on Wednesday, leading reporters to ask House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) about it.
“She’s recovering from a procedure, and I expect that she’ll be back shortly,” Jeffries told reporters in the Capitol.
Republican leaders, by contrast, say they are unaware of what Kean’s actual medical issue is and are not sure when he will be back to work in the House.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Thursday that he spoke to Kean about two weeks ago, and he “sounded great.”
“He said he was out on a medical issue and he’ll be back as soon as possible. That’s the full extent of what I know about it,” Johnson said. “It’s a personal thing, and obviously I told him that we’re praying for him, and I need him to get back as soon as he can.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said that he has not spoken to Kean directly.
“The word that we’re getting is he’s going to be back soon. I don’t know exactly when that is,” Scalise said.
The offices of Kean and Wilson did not respond to The Hill’s request for more details on their conditions and when they are expected to return.
With full attendance, Republicans can afford no more than two defections on an otherwise party-line vote. Republicans will need that near unanimity as they aim to pass a bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol without help from Democrats as soon as next week.
A Thursday vote to limit President Trump’s Iran war powers amplified the impact of absences. The resolution failed in a 212-212 tie, with three Republicans and one Democrat voting against the rest of their party. Four Republicans and two Democrats didn’t vote at all.
The unclear absences are also igniting debate about how transparent lawmakers should be about health issues and the line between respecting their privacy versus the public’s right to know why their elected representative is not voting.
Scrutiny of politicians’ health in general has also ticked up in recent years, driven in part by widespread concerns about former President Biden’s age and his abilities. Biden abruptly ended his reelection campaign in the aftermath of the 2024 debate with Trump.
The issue is seeping into Kean’s reelection race, as national Democrats see his seat as a prime pickup opportunity. The Democrats vying to unseat Kean hammered his extended absence in a debate this week, The New York Times reported.
Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said that Kean told him that it’s “not a problem” for him to run for reelection.
“So, I take him at his word,” Hudson said.
Johnson said that Kean can “of course” run for reelection.
“He’s an extraordinary representative for his district, and he comes from a long line of public servants who have an extraordinary reputation in that state,” Johnson added, in reference to Kean’s father being governor of New Jersey in the 1980s.
Lawmakers sometimes miss stretches of votes — often because they are campaigning in a primary or for higher office. New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D), for instance, missed more than half of the votes she was eligible to cast in 2025 as she campaigned for the statewide office.
Sometimes those absences are due to personal family or medical issues. The late Rep. Raúl Grijalva (R-Ariz.) missed long stretches of votes as his cancer progressed. He died in March 2025. And Rep. Brittney Pettersen (D-Colo.) missed a chunk of votes after the birth of her son in January 2025. She became active in pushing to allow new parents to vote by proxy rather than in person following the birth of a child.
“Like everyone, sometimes things happen that are out of our control. We have medical issues we’ve got to deal with,” Johnson said.
But typically, extended absences are explained, and when they aren’t, controversy can arise.
Former Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) missed several months of votes in the second half of 2024, an absence that went unexplained until local news reported that Granger was living in a memory care and assisted living facility. Granger’s office at the time issued a statement denying she was in memory care but said she had “some unforeseen health challenges.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5879055-kean-wilson-missing-votes/
