Sean T. Kean (born May 21, 1963) is an American Republican Party politician, who has represented the 30th legislative district in the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...

since being sworn into office on January 10, 2012. Prior to redistricting, Kean served in the

New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate is the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232,225 (2020 figure ...

from 2008 to 2012, representing the 11th legislative district. He had previously represented the 11th district in the General Assembly from 2002 to 2008.

Biography

Kean was born in Montclair, grew up in

Deal In cryptography, DEAL (Data Encryption Algorithm with Larger blocks) is a symmetric block cipher derived from the Data Encryption Standard (DES). Its design was presented by Lars Knudsen at the SAC conference in 1997, and submitted as a proposa ...

and attended

Red Bank Catholic High School Red Bank Catholic High School is a four-year private coeducational Roman Catholic high school, located in Red Bank in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades, operating under the super ...

. He is of Irish heritage and has family ancestry in

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

. Kean received a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in 1988 from

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

in Political Science, was granted an M.A.L.S. in 1992 from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in American Studies and was awarded a J.D. from the

Seton Hall University School of Law Seton Hall University School of Law is the law school of Seton Hall University, and is located in downtown Newark, New Jersey. Seton Hall Law is the only private law school in New Jersey. The school confers three law degrees: Juris Doctor, Ma ...

in 1995. Before becoming an attorney, Kean was a member of the Heavy and General Construction Laborers Local 472 Union (a branch of the

Laborers' International Union of North America The Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA, stylized as LiUNA!), often shortened to just the Laborers' Union, is an American and Canadian labor union formed in 1903. As of 2017, they had about 500,000 members, about 80,000 of whom ...

) in Newark from 1984 until 1988. Kean served as an aide to State Senator

John O. Bennett John Orus Bennett III (born August 6, 1948) is an American former politician from New Jersey. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a state senator, and between 2002 and 2004, as president of the state senate. Bennett served as acting ...

from 1994 through 1996. He served on the

Monmouth County Monmouth County () is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is bordered to its west by Mercer and Middlesex Counties, to its south by Ocean County, to its east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to its north by ...

Environmental Council from 1999 to 2001 and on the Wall Township Planning Board from 2001 to 2002. Prior to 1994, Kean had been registered a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

. Kean is a resident of Wall Township where he lives with his wife Bridget and

triplets A multiple birth is the culmination of a multiple pregnancy, wherein the mother gives birth to two or more babies. A term most applicable to vertebrate species, multiple births occur in most kinds of mammals, with varying frequencies. Such births ...

born in July 2012. Kean formerly wrote a column titled "Legislative Matters" in ''The Coast Star'', a weekly local newspaper in Monmouth County. His column typically contains news from the statehouse in Trenton, opinions on issues facing his district, and criticism of the state's Democratic Party.

Legislative career

Kean first took his seat in the Assembly on October 28, 2002, following his selection by the District 11 Republican County Committee members to fill the vacancy created by the death of Assemblyman Thomas S. Smith. Despite not having the endorsement of Monmouth County Republican Chair William F. Dowd and the district's other Assemblyman Steve Corodemus, Kean won the special convention vote winning a majority of the vote (113 votes) on the first ballot defeating Long Branch councilman Anthony Giordano (81 votes) and former

Asbury Park Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 15,188, a dec ...

mayor Carl Williams (13 votes). He would win election to full two-year terms in 2003 and 2005. In the Assembly, he was the Assistant Republican Whip from 2004 to 2008. In his first stint in the Assembly, Kean served in the State Government Committee and the Transportation and Public Works Committee.Assemblyman Kean's Legislative Website

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and ...

. From

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

backup taken June 15, 2007. Accessed January 13, 2008. In 2007, 11th District Senator Joseph A. Palaia opted to retire at the end of his term. Kean sought election to the seat and defeated former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and Assemblyman

John Villapiano John A. Villapiano (born November 17, 1951) is an American former professional football player who played in the World Football League and a Democratic Party politician who served on the Monmouth County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders an ...

63%-37%. During the first two years of his four-year Senate term, he served on the Legislative Services Commission, Labor, and Transportation Committees. In the next two years, he was a member of the Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee and the Transportation Committee. As a result of the 2011 legislative redistricting, Kean's hometown of Wall Township was placed into the 30th Legislative District setting up a potential

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

with fellow Republican Senator Robert Singer. Kean avoided such a fight by instead successfully running for election to the Assembly alongside

David Rible David P. Rible (born August 28, 1967) is an American Republican Party politician, who has served as Director of the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control since July 2017. He had previously served in the New Jersey General Assembly re ...

(who was one of Kean's Assembly successors). In his current term in the Assembly, he is on the Consumer Affairs and Regulated Professions Committees.

Committees

Committee assignments for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are:Assemblyman Sean T. Kean

. Accessed January 24, 2024. *Consumer Affairs *Regulated Professions

District 30

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the

and two members in the

. The representatives from the 30th District for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are:Legislative Roster for District 30

. Accessed January 24, 2024. * Senator Robert Singer (R) * Assemblyman Sean T. Kean (R) * Assemblyman

Avi Schnall Alexander "Avi" Schnall is an American Democratic Party politician, who has represented the 30th legislative district in the New Jersey General Assembly since being sworn into office on January 9, 2024. A Brooklyn native, Schnall moved to Lakew ...

(D)

Election history

References

External links

Assemblyman Sean T. Kean's Legislative Website

*''New Jersey Legislature financial disclosure forms''
20112010200920082007200620052004Sean T. Kean

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is an American non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected offic ...

New Jersey Voter Information Website 2003
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kean, Sean T. Living people 1963 births Catholics from New Jersey Columbia University alumni American people of Irish descent Republican Party New Jersey state senators Republican Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly People from Deal, New Jersey Politicians from Montclair, New Jersey People from Wall Township, New Jersey Politicians from Monmouth County, New Jersey Red Bank Catholic High School alumni Seton Hall University School of Law alumni 21st-century members of the New Jersey Legislature