December 19, 2019

Rep. Jeff Van Drew Just Switched to the Republican Party and Pledged His “Undying Support” for Trump

“This is who I am.”

Evan Vucci/AP

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Following days of reports that Rep. Jeff Van Drew was considering switching his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican, the New Jersey congressman officially announced that he was switching parties on Thursday at a press conference with President Donald Trump.

Van Drew, one of just three Democrats who voted against one or both of the two articles of impeachment passed against Trump by the House on Wednesday, told Trump he has his “undying support.”

“I believe that this is just a better fit for me,” Van Drew said. “This is who I am.”

But is it? Drew, a vocal opponent of impeachment, was “almost obsessively anti-Trump” behind closed doors, the Daily Beast reported Tuesday. The freshman congressman from South Jersey, who previously endorsed Sen. Cory Booker for president, lost most of his staff this week as aides resigned in protest following reports of the impending switch. 

Drew told the Philadelphia Inquirer this week that he is definitely seeking a second term in 2020. “I have an election coming up, and if they disagree with what I’ve done, then they will vote me out, and that’s something I will very willingly accept,” Van Drew said. “That’s their right.”

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

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