Evan Vucci/AP
Following days of reports that Rep. Jeff Van Drew was considering switching his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican, the New Jersey congressman officially announced that he was switching parties on Thursday at a press conference with President Donald Trump.
Van Drew, one of just three Democrats who voted against one or both of the two articles of impeachment passed against Trump by the House on Wednesday, told Trump he has his “undying support.”
“I believe that this is just a better fit for me,” Van Drew said. “This is who I am.”
But is it? Drew, a vocal opponent of impeachment, was “almost obsessively anti-Trump” behind closed doors, the Daily Beast reported Tuesday. The freshman congressman from South Jersey, who previously endorsed Sen. Cory Booker for president, lost most of his staff this week as aides resigned in protest following reports of the impending switch.
Drew told the Philadelphia Inquirer this week that he is definitely seeking a second term in 2020. “I have an election coming up, and if they disagree with what I’ve done, then they will vote me out, and that’s something I will very willingly accept,” Van Drew said. “That’s their right.”
