Jeff Van Drew’s decision to leave the Democratic Party is already blowing up in his face
Over the weekend, Congressman Jeff Van Drew announced that he was not only voting against impeaching Donald Trump, he was switching from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. Palmer Report explained that because Van Drew had already alienated himself from Democratic voters in his swing district, by switching to the Republican Party he was actually increasing the odds that the Democrats would win the seat in 2020. Now Van Drew is already facing blowback.
Five members of Jeff Van Drew’s congressional staff have already announced their resignations in the wake of his decision to leave the Democratic Party. This makes clear that while Van Drew might be willing to join the corrupt party of Trump in a bizarre effort at keeping his job, his staffers aren’t willing to sell their souls just to keep their jobs.
This also strongly suggests that this was an abrupt panic move on Van Drew’s part, as opposed to being something that he considered carefully and discussed with his staff before making the decision. Van Drew met with Donald Trump just before making the move, raising questions about what Trump might have offered him in return, or what Trump might be holding over his head.
It’s still not quite clear what’s really going on here. But while we wait for this to inevitably turn into some kind of corruption scandal, one thing is clear: Jeff Van Drew’s congressional career is in deep trouble. Even his own staff wants nothing to do with whatever downward spiral he’s decided to dive head first into here. We look forward to seeing which Democratic candidate ends up running against him in the 2020 race.
