Democrat Rep. Jeff Van Drew likely to switch to Republican Party over impeachement vote

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, D-N.J., met with President Trump on Friday to discuss going across party lines and joining the Republican Party — this after he has spent months criticizing fellow Democrats for their push to impeach Trump.

The Washington Post first reported that Trump had personally urged Van Drew to jump ship and that the lawmaker was strongly considering it. The New York Times reported that he could make an announcement “as soon as next week”, just as the House gears up to vote on impeachment.

Mr. Van Drew is one of two Democratic lawmakers who opposed an impeachment investigation into Mr. Trump. He represents a district that the president won in 2016.

The change would leave Democrats with 34 more seats than Republicans in the House. One House member is an independent, and there are four vacancies.

News of Mr. Van Drew’s thinking comes at a moment of high partisan tensions in Congress, as the House is expected to vote on articles of impeachment against President Trump next week.

The Times reported that during conversations between Van Drew and Trump advisers, where the freshman congressman said he was nervous about losing his seat either in a Democratic primary — due to his opposition to impeachment in a liberal state — or in a general election. A Democratic aide told Fox News that a recent poll his campaign took showed another Democrat would beat him in a primary race.

The Times reported that while Van Drew has not yet made a final decision, he was serious enough that he discussed what day to make an announcement and whether to do it before the upcoming vote on articles of impeachment.

Mr. Van Drew was elected in 2018 by a margin of nearly 8 percentage points, becoming one of 31 Democrats to represent districts that President Trump had won two years earlier. In 2016, Mr. Trump carried the district by 4.6 percentage points.

A Democratic leader in New Jersey expressed disappointment at Mr. Van Drew’s anticipated party switch.

“The guy should have voted for impeachment in the first place,” said Michael Suleiman, Democratic chairman in Atlantic County, which is part of Mr. Van Drew’s district. “Instead of facing the music of our party, he decides to abandon the voters and switch parties. The voters elected a Democrat for the first time in 25 years because they wanted change.”

Mr. Van Drew has a history of bucking Democratic Party positions. As a state legislator, he voted against a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in 2012. He also opposed a series of measures intended to restrict gun ownership that the state Senate passed 7 years ago.

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