Sweeney, Top SJ Democrats Condemn Van Drew’s Party Switch, Vow to Take Seat Back in 2020

‘We flipped the 2nd last year, we’ll do it again’

Date: December 15, 2019

South Jersey – Steve Sweeney, the President of the New Jersey Senate, was joined by other top Democrats from South Jersey – including every County Chair in the 2nd Congressional District — in condemning Congressman Jeff Van Drew’s decision to switch to the Republican Party after it became clear he could not win re-election as a Democrat due to his defense of President Trump. Van Drew’s decision became public just days after Sweeney and the chairs told Van Drew that they would not support him in next year’s Democratic primary.

“Jeff Van Drew’s decision to switch parties is a betrayal to every voter who supported him in 2018 – Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated. But now he is out of the Democratic Party and in November, we are going to take him out of Congress. We flipped the 2nd District from Republican to Democrat last year and we will do it again next year.”

Last week, these South Jersey leaders refused to sign a document committing their support to Van Drew.  Their support in 2018 – along with support from other New Jersey leaders, including the New Jersey Education Association, the New Jersey AFL-CIO, SEIU-New Jersey, New Jersey Democratic State Committee chairman John Currie and Governor Phil Murphy – was instrumental in Van Drew’s 2018 narrow victory. Without their support, Van Drew will not be able to win election.