Jeff Van Drew
Jefferson H. Van Drew is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 2nd congressional district since 2019. He was elected as a Democrat but joined the Republican Party in 2020.
Before being elected to Congress, Van Drew held several public offices, including fire commissioner, town committee member, Mayor of Dennis Township, New Jersey, and Cape May County Freeholder. He represented New Jersey's 1st legislative district in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2002 to 2008, and represented the same district in the New Jersey Senate from 2008 to 2018.
Van Drew was the Democratic nominee in New Jersey's 2nd congressional district in the 2018 election. He was elected with 52.9% of the vote to Republican Seth Grossman's 45.2%. After opposing the first impeachment of Donald Trump, Van Drew joined the Republican Party shortly afterward. He was reelected in 2020, defeating Democratic challenger Amy Kennedy. Van Drew later supported the unsuccessful attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election.
Early life, education, and career
Van Drew was born in New York City. He graduated with a B.S. from Rutgers University and received a D.M.D. degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University.Van Drew operated a dental practice in South Jersey for 30 years before retiring.
Early political career
Van Drew served on the Dennis Township Committee in 1991, and as mayor from 1994 to 1995 and from 1997 to 2003. He served on the Cape May County Board of Chosen Freeholders from 1994 to 1997 and from 2000 to 2002. He was a Dennis Township Fire Commissioner from 1983 to 1986.In 1994, as a Cape May County Freeholder, Van Drew made support for a local community college a major campaign issue. In 2002, ground was broken on the site of the future Atlantic Cape Community College campus in Cape May County.
Van Drew was a member of the Democratic Party while a local officeholder.
New Jersey Legislature
Van Drew represented the 1st Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2002 to 2008. He represented the same district in the New Jersey Senate from 2008 to 2018. He was a Democrat during this period.On November 6, 2007, Van Drew was elected to the New Jersey Senate, defeating Republican incumbent Nicholas Asselta. In November 2011, Van Drew defeated Republican challenger David S. DeWeese, 24,557 votes to 20,857. He was reelected in 2013, defeating Upper Township Republican businesswoman Susan Adelizzi Schmidt by 20 points.
For the 2018–19 session, Van Drew served in the Senate on the Community and Urban Affairs Committee, the Military and Veterans' Affairs, the Joint Committee on Housing Affordability and the Intergovernmental Relations Commission. In 2008, he sponsored the Fair Market Drug Pricing Act to establish the "New Jersey Rx Card Program to reduce prescription drug prices."
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2018
had been represented by Republican Frank LoBiondo since 1995, who served 11 terms before announcing his retirement on November 7, 2017. The district is the southernmost in New Jersey and the state's largest by area, encompassing rural farms from Salem County to the Jersey Shore and Atlantic City. President Barack Obama won the district in 2008 and 2012, and President Donald Trump won in 2016. Upon LoBiondo's retirement announcement, The Cook Political Report changed the district's rating in the 2018 midterms from "Safe Republican" to "Toss-Up".On November 29, 2017, Van Drew announced he would run for the open seat, aiming "to bring economic opportunity and good jobs to South Jersey." Eight county chairs in the district endorsed him, as did New Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross. In February 2018, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee included Van Drew in its Red to Blue program, which provided resources and donors to candidates in districts that were targeted to be flipped from Republican to Democratic. In the June 5 primary, Van Drew faced William Cunningham, Tanzie Youngblood, and Nate Kleinman. Sean Thom dropped out ahead of the primary. As of May 16, Van Drew had raised $412,555 for his campaign. Van Drew won the primary with 55.4% of the vote. The same night, former Atlantic County Freeholder Seth Grossman won the Republican nomination.
After Van Drew's primary win, The Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball changed the district's rating to "Likely Democratic". In the November 6 general election, Van Drew defeated Grossman, 52.9%-45.2%. His district was one of four New Jersey congressional districts to flip from Republican to Democratic in 2018.
2020
In late November 2019, Van Drew vowed that he would remain a Democrat even though he opposed Trump's impeachment. In December 2019, it was reported that Van Drew was considering switching to the Republican Party for the 2020 elections, after internal polling showed his stance against Trump's impeachment imperiled him with Democratic voters in his district. After a private meeting between Van Drew and Trump, most of his senior aides resigned in protest. The planned conversion was met with praise and criticism by members of both parties. After reports that he was planning to switch parties, the Blue Dog Coalition, a caucus of fiscally conservative Democrats, dropped him from their ranks. The Cook Political Report changed the rating for the district from "Toss-up" to "Leans Republican" on December 16. On December 19, Van Drew announced that he would join the Republican Party.Van Drew hired former Trump administration political director Bill Stepien as a campaign adviser. Van Drew officially switched his party affiliation on January 7, 2020. On January 28, Trump held a rally for Van Drew at the Wildwoods Convention Center, joined by Van Drew, State Senators Chris Brown and Mike Testa, and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.
After the primary, Van Drew became the Republican nominee and faced Democratic nominee Amy Kennedy. In August 2020, the Cook Political Report rated the congressional race a "toss up". On August 27, Van Drew spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention, discussing his discomfort in his relationship with his former Democratic colleagues in the House and why he supported Trump's reelection. Van Drew defeated Kennedy in the general election, 52% to 46%, or by about 20,000 votes.
2022
Van Drew ran for reelection in the 2022 elections. He won the primary with 82% of the vote, defeating two challengers for the Republican nomination. He won the general election with 59.3% of the vote to Democratic nominee Tim Alexander's 39.6%.2024
On December 8, 2023, Van Drew announced his intention to run for re-election in the 2024 elections. He was unopposed in the Republican primary and won the general election with 58.1% of the votes.Tenure
Van Drew was the first Democrat to represent the district since 1995.Van Drew said during his campaign that, if elected, he would not support Nancy Pelosi to be the next Speaker of the House. His first vote in Congress was "no" for Speaker which was recorded as "present" under the rules.
In October 2019, he announced that he would oppose the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump. On October 31, 2019, he and Collin Peterson were the only Democrats to vote against the rules for an impeachment inquiry against Trump. He was also one of two Democrats to vote against both articles of impeachment on December 18, 2019, along with Peterson, although it had already been leaked before the vote that he was planning to switch parties.
Before switching parties, Van Drew voted in line with Democrats 89.7% of the time during his tenure in Congress.
On December 19, 2019, Van Drew publicly announced his decision to join the Republican Party, telling Trump that he had his "undying support." As a result, Trump endorsed him for reelection. Van Drew officially switched his party affiliation on January 7, 2020.
In December 2020, Van Drew was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated Trump, though the filing erroneously placed Van Drew as representing a district in South Carolina. On January 6, 2021, Van Drew was one of 147 Republican lawmakers who objected to the certification of electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and forced an emergency recess of Congress. Van Drew says he received a death threat from a journalist because of the objection.
On February 4, 2021, Van Drew voted against removing Marjorie Taylor Greene from her positions on the House Budget and the Education and Labor committees over comments she had made and conspiracy theories she had espoused.
In May 2021, Van Drew joined a majority of Republicans who voted to oust Liz Cheney from House Republican leadership, saying, "she is not providing the leadership that would create unity within our caucus and it's very important as we go into the next election, it's very important as we deal with policy issues, that we are unified and we are strong, and I don't think that brand and style of leadership that she used was creating that but rather was splitting people apart."
On November 5, 2021, Van Drew and 12 other House Republicans broke with their party to vote with a majority of Democrats for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
On May 22, 2025, Van Drew voted for the Republican One Big Beautiful Bill Act that significantly cut Medicaid, despite previously signing a letter opposing such reductions. The legislation included an expansion of Section 199A, a tax provision set to expire at the end of the year, which could personally benefit Van Drew, who reported over $5,000 in pass-through rental income. The deduction is estimated to cost $730 billion over the next decade, with proposed changes adding an additional $50 billion.