About
Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2019, representing New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District. He ran for his third term in 2022 and won with Trump’s endorsement, which came via a video from Mar-a-Lago that triggered a YouTube “misinformation” label. Van Drew supports the recent Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade and, as a recent convert to the GOP, upholds gun rights and opposes efforts to mitigate climate change.
Prior to joining Congress, Van Drew served in the New Jersey Senate from 2008–18 and the State General Assembly from 2002–08. After working as a dentist for 30 years, the congressman recently retired from his practice in southern New Jersey.
For most of his political career, Van Drew was a registered Democrat. However, he switched parties in 2019 over his opposition to Trump’s first impeachment for making promised aid to Ukraine contingent on its president doing political favors for Trump.
In December 2019, Van Drew pledged his “undying support” to Trump on cable news. In 2021, he voted against the voter protection legislation H.R. 1 (the For the People Act) after supporting the bill in 2019. This change of course drew criticism in campaign ads by the Working Families Party in New Jersey, whose director said: “Apparently when Jeff Van Drew swore undying loyalty to Donald Trump, he gave up any commitment to protecting voting rights or getting money out of politics as part of the deal.”
January 6, 2021
- Just hours after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, Van Drew joined 146 other congressional Republicans in refusing to certify Biden’s win of the 2020 presidential election. In a statement posted the day before, he said he planned to vote against certification because he sensed “a disrespect of millions of Americans who really do believe that something’s wrong. It’s not a matter of who would win or lose—maybe the results would be the same—but we should abide by the rule of law.”
- Van Drew rejected impeaching Trump for inciting the insurrection, noting in a statement on the House floor that “nearly half the country supports our current president” and impeachment would “fracture” the nation.
- Van Drew voted against establishing a House committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack.
- Reflecting on the insurrection a year later, Van Drew continued to deny that Trump bore any responsibility for the riot, claiming that he used the word “peaceful” multiple times as he spoke that day.
The Big Lie
- On Dec. 10, 2020, Van Drew signed an amicus brief in a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the results of the presidential election in four swing states: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
- As the only member of the New Jersey congressional delegation to vote against certifying President Biden’s win, Van Drew justified his vote by arguing, “It’s not so much that I want to overturn the election. It is the fact that… if everybody would clear their head and look at this… some really wrong things did happen.”