WASHINGTON — There’s little doubt President Donald Trump will talk about impeachment at Tuesday night’s Wildwood rally as his lawyers are in Washington telling the Senate why he shouldn’t be removed from office.

In fact, there would be no Wildwood rally at all without impeachment — and a stunning move by a New Jersey congressman.

Joining Trump on board Air Force One will be New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who famously refused to vote for impeachment as a Democrat and then switched parties and declared his “undying support" for the president.

Van Drew said Trump is fulfilling a promise he made when two men met in the Oval Office last month after the impeachment vote and before the rookie representative switched parties.

“The president said what could he do to help,” Van Drew, R-2nd Dist., told NJ Advance Media. “I said this would be a great help. “It’s really a big deal for South Jersey. I really am always fighting to get South Jersey on the map.”

The Wildwood venue holds around 7,500 people and Van Drew has said that around 100,000 tickets have been given out. That figure couldn’t be independently verified, however. A Trump campaign spokeswoman told Those unable to get inside will be able to watch the rally on a large screen outside the building.

Trump has been holding political rallies around the country, venting before friendly crowds at the congressional Democrats who made him just the third president ever to be impeached, as well as the Democratic presidential candidates.

In between attacking his political rivals, complaining about impeachment, and touting his accomplishments as president, Trump is expected to offer kind words about New Jersey’s newest Republican congressman. As a Democrat, Van Drew in 2018 flipped the seat held by Rep. Frank LoBiondo for 24 years before he retired.

“Van Drew played this well,” said Ben Dworkin, director of Rowan University’s Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship. “He got not only a White House endorsement while sitting next to the president as if he was a visiting head of state but he got the president to come to his district.”

The rally will provide the Trump seal of approval to Van Drew, who voted against the president 90 percent of the time during his first year in office, according to Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight.

“It’s going to be very powerful,” said Rep. Chris Smith, R-4th Dist. “There are a lot of Trump supporters in that district. A lot.”

That could help Van Drew fend off any primary challenges from Republicans questioning his GOP bonafides in a district Trump carried four years ago.

“Given the popularity of the president, it is hard to imagine any successful effort to dump the White House’s chosen candidate,” Dworkin said.

“The White House is doing everything it can to clear the path for Van Drew. This rally is going to be further testament to how much the president and his allies are embracing Jeff Van Drew.”

Two of the Republican congressional candidates, Brian Fitzherbert and David Richter, withdrew from the race and endorsed Van Drew.

Fitzherbert said he was going to “follow President Trump’s lead.”

Richter, who largely was self-funding his campaign, switched congressional districts and now will take on Democratic Rep. Andy Kim in the 3rd District.

“Needless to say, no one could have anticipated Congressman Van Drew’s party switch last month, but now that we have an incumbent Republican congressman in the Second District, I am withdrawing from the race effective immediately and will be joining President Trump in supporting Congressman Van Drew’s re-election,” Richter said.

Van Drew said he will use his time aboard Air Force One to discuss South Jersey with the president.

What will he talk to the president about? “I’m just going to speak from the heart,” he said. "Just being with the president and having a wonderful celebration of America in South Jersey is a tremendous honor,” Van Drew said.

The visit already is helping the area, providing an unexpected boost of economic activity for a beach town that usually is quiet in the winter.

The rally is taking place in a smaller venue despite the presence of the much larger Atlantic City convention Center elsewhere in the district. Unlike Atlantic City, Wildwood is located in the state Senate district Van Drew represented before his 2018 election to the U.S. House and is a more Republican area.

“Atlantic City is great, a lot of folks are coming from Atlantic City, and Wildwood is great too," Van Drew said. “You don’t have a lot of choices. It’s not like there’s a convention center that’s on every other block.”

A frequent Trump critic, Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., suggested Trump may want to avoid Atlantic City, where he had three casinos go bankrupt and left a stack of unpaid bills settled for pennies on the dollar.

“He was in Atlantic City so many times when he was a businessman,” said Pascrell, D-9th Dist. “He had his casinos down there that he screwed up.”

Barack Obama carried the district in 2008 and 2012, and there is no shortage of Democrats vying for the nomination to take on Van Drew, who managed just 52 percent against a GOP candidate who was disavowed by his party for sharing a racist screed.

Five candidates will precede the Trump-Van Drew rally by speaking on the Wildwood boardwalk at an event sponsored by the Democratic activist group Indivisible.

Those scheduled to appear are Brigid Callahan Harrison, a professor of political science and law at Montclair State University; educator Amy Kennedy, wife of former Rep. Patrick Kennedy; Will Cunningham, a veteran congressional aide who lost to Van Drew in the 2018 Democratic primary; Atlantic County Freeholder Ashley Bennett; and former FBI agent Robert Turkavage, who ran as a Republican for the seat two years ago.

“This is not a Trump district,” Harrison said. “Trump’s message was people need jobs. That message resonated with people who were facing really tough times economically. What they see now is there has not been the kind of progress for many people that President Trump promised.”

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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