David Richter Announces Run for Congress Against Rep. Jeff Van Drew in New Jersey’s CD2

AVALON, NJ – David Richter, the former CEO of global construction management firm Hill International, today announced that he is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge freshman Democratic Rep. Jeff Van Drew in 2020 to represent New Jersey’s Second Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.  He filed paperwork earlier today with the U.S. Federal Election Commission to officially launch his campaign.

“Jeff Van Drew has completely failed South Jersey voters.  He spent over a decade supporting the Democratic majority in the state legislature and making New Jersey one of the highest-taxed and most anti-business states in the country,” said Richter.  “Now, after running as a conservative Democrat, Van Drew has voted in Washington with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez nearly 90% of the time.  We need a real conservative in Congress who will work hard for smaller government, lower taxes and secure borders, and who will fight to protect, not undermine, our constitutional rights,” added Richter.

“I have spent the last several months traveling throughout the Second District and speaking with voters,” said Richter.  “They feel betrayed by career politicians like Jeff Van Drew and eagerly want someone in Congress who will fight for them, not against them,” he added.

Richter, 53, is an engineer, lawyer and businessman.  He worked for 22 years at Hill International, rising from General Counsel to Group President to Chief Operating Officer and eventually to Chief Executive Officer.  During the time he worked at Hill, it grew from a private firm with less than 300 employees to a New York Stock Exchange-listed global public company with more than 4,300 employees.  As a result, Richter knows how to create jobs and knows the challenges faced by entrepreneurs and small business owners who are trying to grow their companies.

Hill has helped to build schools, hospitals, museums and courthouses.  The company has managed construction of airports, highways, rail and other infrastructure projects.  It has overseen development of renewable energy projects and the cleanup of hazardous waste in order to help keep our environment as clean as possible.  And it has helped when natural or man-made events required large-scale recovery efforts, such as in response to hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, rebuilding in post-war Iraq and Afghanistan, and reconstructing the World Trade Center following the terrorist attacks on September 11th.

Hill’s projects in the region included the Battleship USS New Jersey Memorial and Museum, the FirstEnergy Park minor-league baseball stadium, the Comcast Center skyscraper, the National Constitution Center, the Liberty Bell Pavilion and Philadelphia International Airport.  Around the world, Hill has managed the construction of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the U.S. Supreme Court Building modernization, the National Library of Latvia, Miami’s Frost Museum of Science, the development of Palm Island in Dubai, the renovation of New York City Hall, the Los Angeles Metro’s Gold Line extension, and the expansion of Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport, among thousands of other building and infrastructure projects.  Hill received more than 100 awards for project excellence during David’s leadership at the company.

“As a civil engineer with more than two decades of experience in the construction industry, I understand what it takes to get things built,” said Richter.  “In Congress, I plan to work hard to ensure the federal government is investing in South Jersey’s infrastructure—expanding our transportation network, keeping our environment clean, and maintaining our coastline,” added Richter.

A lifelong Republican, Richter grew up in and has spent most of his life living and working in South Jersey.  He earned two bachelor’s degrees and a law degree from Penn as well as master’s degrees from Oxford and Harvard.  Richter and his wife Michelle, who have been married for 20 years, are the parents of four daughters.

Simultaneous with today’s announcement, Richter also launched his campaign’s website, which can be found at Richter2020.com.