Jeff Van Drew

Jeff Van Drew

Jefferson H. Van Drew is an American politician and dentist serving as the U.S. Representative for New Jersey’s 2nd congressional district since 2019. Prior to being elected to Congress, he was the New Jersey State Senator from the 1st Legislative District from 2008 to 2018, and represented the same district in New Jersey General Assembly from 2002 to 2008. He is a member of the Republican Party after leaving the Democratic Party in 2020 to oppose their support for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

About Jeff Van Drew in brief

Summary Jeff Van DrewJefferson H. Van Drew is an American politician and dentist serving as the U.S. Representative for New Jersey’s 2nd congressional district since 2019. He is a member of the Republican Party after leaving the Democratic Party in 2020 to oppose their support for the impeachment of President Donald Trump. Prior to being elected to Congress, he was the New Jersey State Senator from the 1st Legislative District from 2008 to 2018, and represented the same district in New Jersey General Assembly from 2002 to 2008. He was elected with 53% of the vote against Republican nominee Seth Grossman in the 2018 election. In late 2019, Van Drew vowed that he would remain as a Democrat, even though he opposed impeaching Trump. After reports that he was planning to switch to the GOP, it was reported that Van Drew was considering switching to Republican Party for the 2020 elections. In the November 5, 2018, primary, he won the Democratic primary with 55. 4% of the vote. On November 29, 2017, he announced he would run for the open congressional seat, aiming to bring economic opportunity and good jobs to South Jersey. The district had been represented by Republican Frank LoBiondo since 1995, who served 11 terms before announcing his retirement on November 7, 2017.

President Barack Obama won the district in 2008 and 2012, and President Donald Donald Trump won in 2016. In February 2018, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee included Van Drew in their Red to Blue program, which provided resources and donors to candidates in districts that were targeted to be flipped from Republican to Democrat. This made Van Drew the first Democrat to represent NJ-02 since 1995-02-02 to represent the Democrat-run district. In November 2014, he defeated Republican challenger David S. DeWeese by a margin of 24,557-20,857. In November 2015, he beat Republican challenger Susan Adelizzi Schmidt by 20 points. In November 2016, he lost his bid for a seat in the Senate, defeating Republican incumbent Nicholas Asselta. In January 2019, he officially did so on January 7, 2020. He defeated Democratic candidate Amy Kennedy, in which he defeated Democraticcandidate Amy Kennedy. He sponsored the Fair Market Drug Pricing Act to establish the New Jersey Rx Card Program to reduce prescription drug prices.