How Trump Convinced a Democrat to Switch Parties
President Donald Trump and Republican Party reportedly engaged in a six-week campaign to convince Rep. Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ) to leave the Democratic Party and to become a Republican and also attempted to get a second Democrat to leave the party.
After Van Drew voted against the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry in October, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, approached Van Drew and told him that Trump wanted him to become a Republican.
“But McCarthy also had a threat for Van Drew — Republicans ‘were going to beat you anyway,’ he warned,” Politico reported. “Trump won Van Drew’s South Jersey district by nearly 5 points in 2016, and GOP leaders were already heavily targeting the seat next year.”
The six-week campaign, which was described by Politico as a “stealth effort,” reportedly involved discussions with former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, who is from Van Drew’s district.
“McCarthy kept on reaching out to Van Drew, as did other House Republicans. Van Drew and Trump exchanged several phone calls in the past couple of weeks, brokered in part by McCarthy,” Politico continued. “Trump and McCarthy argued that Van Drew would be better off in the GOP. And they also noted that Van Drew’s old New Jersey state Senate seat, which overlaps with his congressional district, had been carried by Republicans in recent Garden State elections.” (Read more from “How Trump Convinced a Democrat to Switch Parties” HERE)
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