Sean Kean wins Senate seat in 11th District race Assemblyman Sean T. Kean said that making New Jersey an affordable state to live in would be a priority when he takes office as senator in January. Sean T. Kean Kean, a Republican, won the 11th District state Senate seat in the Nov. 6 election, receiving 28,249 votes over Democratic candidate John Villapiano, who garnered 16,314 votes. "There was an opportunity created by the retirement of Sen. Joseph Palaia," said Kean. "I have big shoes to fill and I think I am capable. "I want to work to make the area more affordable," he continued. "I want to attract people to the state, rather than chase them out." Kean joined the Legislature in 2002 and was re-elected in 2003 and 2005. After serving on the Assembly for five years, he said he wanted to run for a four-year term on the Senate. "My priority is to keep spending down," he said. "When I talk to my constituents, they don't tell me that their lives benefit from the high spending in the state." One way to reduce costs is to look at the ways the state funds education, according to Kean. "We are seeing people leave the state more than ever and it is because of the affordable issue," he said. "It is real and it is a crisis." Kean explained in a press release that his plan to reduce state spending would reform a system that has produced five years of record spending that has "dramatically" increased the cost of government. The state spending reforms proposed by Kean include cutting more than $1 billion in unnecessary spending and earmarking that savings for constitutionally guaranteed property tax relief.