Appearing on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures, Representative Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, who bolted from the Democratic Party to join the Republican Party, said that he left the Democrats when a county chairman ordered to vote to impeach President Trump. Van Drew was one of two Democrats to vote “no” to the impeachment of Trump last Wednesday.
According to Drew, a Democratic Party county chairman from one of the eight counties in his New Jersey House seat told him, “You’ve got to vote for impeachment. If you don’t, you’re not going to be able to run in my county.”
Of course, a county chairman of a political party has no power to order a United States congressman to do anything, but Van Drew said the remark was just the “final sign” that he needed to switch parties.
“First of all, I still could have run,” Van Drew said, “But it made me think, for all the years that I have worked so hard and tried to give so much … and it all boils down to one vote, that I may have my own individual opinion on one vote, and that’s not going to be allowed? I’m going to be punished for that? And that’s when I know.”
In 2018, Van Drew was the first Democrat to win in his district, which had been held by a Republican, for more than 20 years. Republican Frank LoBiondo retired in 2018, and Van Drew was one of the many House seats that flipped Democrat, resulting in the Democrat majority and Nancy Pelosi being speaker of the House.
While many conservatives and Republicans in general are happy with Van Drew’s decision to vote against the impeachment of Trump and his decision to become a Republican, it was expected that he would have a difficult time getting reelected as a Democrat, especially had he voted to impeach Trump. Most elections analysts have the seat in the “toss-up” category, as Trump carried the district in 2016.
In fact, polling has indicated that Van Drew might not have even survived a Democratic primary.
Van Drew’s condemnation of the direction of the Democratic Party should no doubt endear him to many Republicans. “The [Democratic] Party is moving further and further to the Left where there’s discussion of it being a socialist party, and I am a proud capitalist. I believe in hard work.”
But other than being a “proud capitalist” and believing in “hard work,” just what is Van Drew’s political ideology? A closer examination of his voting record during his one term in Congress should raise concerns for those who are constitutionalists. In the “Freedom Index” compiled by The New American magazine (which measures a congressman’s fidelity to the Constitution), Van Drew has only mustered a dismal 12-percent score!
If anything is an indication as to how far left the Democratic Party has veered, the fact that Van Drew thinks it has gone too far left for him while he has a mere 12-percent score on the “Freedom Index” is evidence enough. Among his unconstitutional votes include a vote to prohibit federal funds for the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement and a vote for gun control. Specifically, Van Drew voted to create a federal registry for firearms, to ban the private sale of firearms, and for universal background checks.
Van Drew also joined with the overwhelming majority of the House, Democrat and Republican, in voting for the USMCA trade deal, which surrenders America’s national sovereignty in many matters to the unelected bureaucrats who will implement the agreement.
To be fair, Van Drew did vote to direct the president to remove U.S. armed forces from Yemen, which is a positive thing.
It is rare for members of Congress to switch parties. In the last decade, Van Drew is one of only two members of Congress that have done so, the other being Michigan Republican Justin Amash, who became an independent. Although Amash voted in favor of the impeachment of Trump, constitutionalists are pleased with Amash’s voting record on the “Freedom Index.” Amash’s cumulative score is 94 percent and, unlike Van Drew, Amash voted in opposition to the USMCA.
Photo: AP Images
Steve Byas is a university instructor of history and government and the author of History’s Greatest Libels. He may be contacted at [email protected]
