Jeff Van Drew reveals the moment he decided it was time to switch parties

Jeff Van Drew.
(Image credit: Screenshot/Fox)

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) reached the point of no return when a local New Jersey county party chair told him he would face political consequences if he didn't vote in favor of impeachment.

Van Drew, in an appearance on Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures on Sunday, told host Maria Bartiromo that when he heard that warning he decided it was time to switch parties. "It made me think for all the years that I've worked so hard and tried to give so much not only to the party but to everybody," the former Democratic congressman said. "It all boils down to that I have my own individual opinion on one vote and that's not going to be allowed, and I'm going to be punished for that, and that's when I knew."

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Van Drew, who went against the Democratic line and opposed impeachment from the beginning, officially announced he was crossing the aisle Thursday. He said he feels that he did "the honorable thing" and is sticking by his decision so far, even though there are questions about how he'll actually fit in with the GOP when it comes to non-impeachment voting. Read more at The Hill.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.