Posted on 12/20/2019 6:49:15 AM PST by Conserv
Democrat Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey officially announced his decision to switch political parties and pledged his support for President Donald Trump on Thursday.
“I believe that this is just a better fit for me,” Van Drew told reporters on Thursday at the White House. “This is who I am. It’s who I always was, but there was more tolerance of moderate Democrats, of Blue Dog Democrats, of Conservative Democrats, and I think that’s going away.”
Van Drew met with Trump in the Oval Office together with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Vice President Mike Pence to discuss his decision. Trump called his decision a “big deal” noting that it had been about ten years since a member of Congress switched parties to become a Republican.
“It’s a very big deal,” McCarthy agreed. “Because he’s going from the majority to the minority. It normally doesn’t go that way.” “Yeah, but he’s very smart because he knows it’s not going to be the minority for long,” Trump replied. “I have a feeling we’re going to do very well in 2020.”
Van Drew noted that one of his political heroes continued to be former President Ronald Reagan. “He said, ‘I didn’t leave my party, my party left me,” Van Drew said. “I’m saying the same thing.”
The former Democrat pledged his support for Trump in the next election. “You have my undying support, and always,” Van Drew said. “By the way, same way,” Trump replied shaking Van Drew’s hand and adding, “I’m endorsing him."
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
I am going to watch him to see if he’ll be a good Republican. If he voted with the GOP 80% of the time, I’ll say nice...
I was thinking the same thing. ;)
The district had a Republican Congressman before Van Drew and voted for Trump. It leans Republican. There is little doubt he would win a general election as a Republican. The only question is if he will make it thru a GOP primary.
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