Elections 2026 · Source audit
Kean and Bennett: policy evidence
The evidence behind the NJ-07 policy questionnaire.
This page reveals candidate positions. Start the questionnaire · Read the methodology.
Research cutoff: 2026-10-25. Evidence version: 2026-10-25.1. Direct statements, specific votes, package votes, historical evidence and unresolved evidence are labeled separately. Campaign statements about opponents are not independent verification.
Download the public versioned evidence data (JSON). This contains no visitor answers.
Immigration detention and deportation
The federal government should substantially expand funding and capacity for immigration detention and deportation.
Unscored: The sources do not establish opposing answers to this exact national funding proposition. Both candidates have opposed the proposed Roxbury facility.
Tom Kean Jr.
unknown · Evidence basis: package vote
Backed a broad law containing additional immigration-enforcement funding; a separate answer to this exact expansion statement is not established.
The larger package is context, not a standalone mandate. Later opposition to the Roxbury facility is shared by both candidates.
Rebecca Bennett
unknown · Evidence basis: direct statement
Supports due-process protections and alternatives to detention; her answer to this exact funding-and-capacity proposition is unverified.
Criticism of enforcement practices or a particular facility is not opposition to every expansion of funding.
Federal voter-registration documentation
Registering to vote in federal elections should require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship, beyond signing a declaration of citizenship.
Unscored: Bennett’s exact documentation requirements are unresolved; the linked official roll call also needs direct validation.
Tom Kean Jr.
support · Evidence basis: specific vote
guides.vote links his 2026 vote for documentary proof of citizenship at federal registration.
The linked Congress.gov roll call could not be reopened in this review; attribution remains contextual and cannot activate scoring by itself.
Rebecca Bennett
unknown · Evidence basis: direct statement
Supports easier registration and voting rights; exact acceptable citizenship-document requirements were not verified.
General registration policy cannot be converted into opposition to this precise documentation rule.
Medicaid funding and eligibility
Congress should reverse the reductions in projected federal Medicaid spending enacted in 2025.
Unscored: Bennett’s restoration proposal is explicit. Kean’s package vote and defense do not verify his answer to the exact restoration statement.
Tom Kean Jr.
unknown · Evidence basis: package vote
Supported the 2025 reconciliation package and defended its Medicaid provisions; an exact position on reversing its projected spending reductions is not separately established.
Package support and arguments about program integrity are not automatically a provision-specific position on restoration.
Rebecca Bennett
support · Evidence basis: direct statement
Her current campaign healthcare page proposes restoring the Medicaid reductions.
Direct restoration proposal. Claims on the campaign page about the opponent are not treated as independent evidence.
Medicaid funding and eligibility
Certain working-age adults should have to document qualifying work, education, or community-service activity to remain eligible for Medicaid, with statutory exemptions.
Unscored: A direct answer from Bennett on the work-reporting requirement was not verified.
Tom Kean Jr.
support · Evidence basis: direct statement
His reconciliation statement endorses requiring eligible adults able to contribute to their community to do so to receive Medicaid benefits.
Statement was readable in the search index; direct page access returned 403. This supports work-rule direction, without establishing every implementation detail.
Rebecca Bennett
unknown · Evidence basis: unknown
An exact position on these statutory work-reporting requirements was not verified.
Opposition to Medicaid reductions or the overall 2025 law does not establish opposition to each work requirement.
Lawmakers’ individual stock holdings
Which rule should apply to members of Congress and their spouses and dependent children?
Unscored: The exact legislative rules are not mapped completely enough for both candidates; no categorical points are awarded.
Tom Kean Jr.
mixed · Evidence basis: direct statement
Backs a ban on new individual-stock purchases and also cosponsors the TRUST in Congress Act; these do not establish a single exclusive choice.
Support for a narrower bill is not opposition to stronger restrictions. His personal “blind structure” is not classified as a qualified blind trust.
Rebecca Bennett
mixed · Evidence basis: direct statement
Calls for a full individual-stock trading ban and has divested personally; the exact mandatory holdings, family, and trust rules remain unresolved.
Personal conduct and a general trading-ban pledge do not uniquely map the detailed alternatives.
Federal clean-energy incentives
Congress should restore federal clean-energy tax incentives rolled back by the 2025 law.
Unscored: The package vote conflicts with earlier preservation advocacy, and current provision-specific restoration positions are incomplete.
Tom Kean Jr.
mixed · Evidence basis: package vote
Supported the 2025 package after previously joining a letter seeking to preserve clean-energy credits. An exact current position on restoration is not established.
The preservation letter and package vote pull in different directions; neither proves opposition to all restored credits.
Rebecca Bennett
unknown · Evidence basis: direct statement
Supports renewable-energy incentives, including solar and electric vehicles, but exact restoration of all rolled-back provisions was not verified.
A general incentive pledge does not resolve every technology and provision in the restoration statement.
Federal and state abortion law
Which legal framework comes closest to your view?
Unscored: Kean’s state-authority statement is from 2024 and has not been verified as a current 2026 position.
Tom Kean Jr.
support · Evidence basis: historical
In 2024 reporting, favored state regulation of abortion and opposed a national ban; current-cycle reaffirmation of that framework was not verified.
Historical evidence is visibly dated and excluded from scoring. The article was published October 16, 2024 and updated November 1, 2024.
Rebecca Bennett
support · Evidence basis: direct statement
Her current campaign page calls for restoring abortion-access protections at the federal level.
This supports a federal protection direction, but does not specify every limit, exception, or preemption rule.
U.S. military action against Iran
The United States should continue its military campaign against Iran rather than seek to end the campaign now.
Unscored: Disabled: September candidate statements predate subsequent diplomacy, and the immediate military situation was not sufficiently verified for this exact “continue now” proposition.
Tom Kean Jr.
unknown · Evidence basis: direct statement
Defended the U.S. action at the September 27 debate; that statement does not verify an answer under the operational conditions now.
September support is retained as dated context only. A war-powers vote would not by itself establish every current military objective.
Rebecca Bennett
unknown · Evidence basis: direct statement
Called for ending the war at the September 27 debate; her answer under the latest operational conditions was not immediately verified.
The time-sensitive item stays disabled for scoring pending a new review immediately before any activation.
Federal income-tax cuts for higher earners
Congress should reverse recent federal income-tax cuts for higher-income taxpayers.
Unscored: The income base, covered provisions, and exact two-candidate comparison remain unresolved; the original $500,000 threshold is not used.
Tom Kean Jr.
unknown · Evidence basis: package vote
Backed and praised the 2025 tax law; a separately verified answer on reversing the particular higher-income provisions was not established.
Support for the larger tax law is not automatically opposition to reversing each rate or income-specific provision.
Rebecca Bennett
support · Evidence basis: direct statement
Proposes returning the top individual tax rate to its pre-Trump level and using the revenue for childcare assistance.
Do not substitute a household, AGI, taxable-income, or individual $500,000 threshold. Exact comparable tax provisions require further review.
Broad import tariffs
The United States should maintain the administration’s broad import-tariff policy debated in September 2026, including tariffs on allied countries.
Eligible for scoring
Tom Kean Jr.
support · Evidence basis: direct statement
At the September 27 debate, defended the administration’s use of tariffs and said Congress should not interfere with that policy.
Direct defense of the broad policy in the debate context, corroborated by independent reporting; not inferred from one targeted tariff.
Rebecca Bennett
oppose · Evidence basis: direct statement
At the same debate, called for rolling back the administration’s tariffs; her questionnaire response explicitly proposes ending the trade conflict with allies.
Direct opposition to the broad policy and explicit allied-country scope; does not imply opposition to every targeted tariff.
Federal tax on firearm suppressors
Congress should restore the federal tax on firearm suppressors removed by the 2025 legislation.
Unscored: Bennett’s proposal is explicit, but Kean’s package vote does not establish his standalone suppressor-tax position.
Tom Kean Jr.
unknown · Evidence basis: package vote
Supported the larger 2025 law; a standalone position on restoring the suppressor tax was not verified.
A vote for the full package does not establish a separate answer on this tax.
Rebecca Bennett
support · Evidence basis: direct statement
Her current public-safety page explicitly proposes reinstating the tax on firearm suppressors.
Narrow tax proposal only; broader campaign rhetoric is not reproduced as factual characterization.
Source publication dates may be unknown. The check date records review, not when a candidate adopted a position. This two-candidate exercise is not a complete ballot guide. Corrections · Publisher disclosures.
