New Jersey Rep. Plans on Joining the GOP

Rep. Jeff Van Drew of a swing district in southern New Jersey and one of the two Democrats that opposed the impeachment of President Donald Trump is expected to switch political parties and become a member of the GOP.

He represents New Jersey’s second congressional district and had become increasingly unpopular according to Van Drew’s internal polling. Based on his stance on impeachment, the poll said 58 percent of primary voters in his district preferred to nominate another candidate and only 28 percent said he should be nominated again. The internal survey also asked how Democrats would respond to Van Drew voting no on impeachment and revealed that more than 70 percent of Dems said they would be less likely to support him and 22 percent said they would back him.

In November, he denied considering a party switch at a telephone town hall. It wasn’t till after news of other Democrats that shared Van Drew’s position on impeachment like the 10 moderate Dems reviving a proposal to censure the president instead of impeaching him, and the group of swing state lawmakers planning to vote against impeaching him this Wednesday, Van Drew met with President Trump to discuss the potential party switch on Friday and was followed by presidential hat tip on Twitter. The president tweeted at Jeff a little after midnight on Sunday morning, thanking him for his honesty.

Thank you for your honesty Jeff. All of the Democrats know you are right, but unlike you, they don’t have the “guts” to say so! https://t.co/OUc46HUwPq — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 15, 2019 Archive.is

Democrats Clearly Not Happy

Van Drews has spent the last few months criticizing Democrats and their agenda to impeach the president and has informed his staff and other lawmakers in New Jersey that he would be leaving the Democratic Party following his meeting with the president. He had become frustrated with the Democrats aggressive push to impeach President Trump.

Democrats expressed their feelings about Van Drew’s switch on the Sunday shows and on Twitter. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nalder (D-NY) gave the reason for Van Drew’s switch as him trying to regain voter popularity.

“What he’s reacting to is public polling that shows he can’t get renominated,” Nadler told ABC. He went on to talk about impeachment saying, “…this is not political. We should not be looking at those things. This is the defense of our democracy. Do we stay a democratic republic or do we turn into tyranny?”

Governor of New Jersey Phil Murphy tweeted on Saturday, “Betraying our party by siding with Donald Trump is the final straw, as grassroots activists, local party leaders in his district, and I have made clear in recent weeks.” Atlantic County Democratic Chairman Michael Suleiman, who’d already warned Van Drew that he would lose Democrat support and backing if he didn’t vote for impeachment, said that “Van Drew is a coward with a capital C.” Suleiman also said he heard rumors that President Trump and Van Drew would be doing an event together to announce the switch.