Trump And The DCCC Are Turning NJ-02 Into A Political Cesspool Already

Van Drew was always a Republican-- and now it's official

In the 2018 cycle, conservative then-"Democrat" Jeff Van Drew wasn’t one of the party’s star fundraisers, although he did bring in $1,881,731, despite a very right-wing voting record in the Jersey state legislature. The 3 other successful challengers in New Jersey that year all did significantly better than Van Drew did:

• Andy Kim (NJ-03)- $6,339,770
• Tom Malinowski (NJ-07)- $6,254,566
• Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11)- $8,489,793

And so far this cycle, all were beating Van Drew as well, Democratic donors being unimpressed with Van Drew's repulsive record in the House and his virtual residency at Fox News.

• Jeff Van Drew (NJ-02)- $1,276,316
• Andy Kim (NJ-03)- $1,700,707
• Tom Malinowski (NJ-07)- $1,720,429
• Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11)- $1,841,106

And then Trump lured Van Drew into switching parties, promising him an active endorsement, not just against whichever Democrat wins the primary, but also against the 3 Republicans who had been running all year by screeching that Van Drew is a “Socialist!!!” and a Nancy Pelosi lover. And Trump promised money and staff. A Trump SuperPAC has already injected $250,000 into the race and, on Trump's command, the GOP sent over two notorious Jersey GOP sleaze bags to run his campaign, Bill Stepien and Ron Filan.

The Republicans running against him hadn’t raised much money and will in all likelihood now see all sources of funds, other than their own bank accounts, dry up entirely.

• David Richter- $412,760 of which $300,000 was self funded
• Bob Paterson- $100,342
• Brian Fitzherbert- $21,287

Since Van Drew is now being considered a Republican incumbent, the NRCC version of the Cheri Bustos rule applies. Anyone who works for a campaign challenging him-- even though they had been encouraged to work for that campaign until 2 weeks ago-- will be blackballed by RepublicanWorld. (Note: people like Cheri Bustos should not be part of Democratic Party leadership. Except for identity politics issues, she’s a Republican from her toes to the top of her head.)

Politico has been helping rewrite history and has participated in twisting the Van Drew story entirely. Matt Freidman wrote that Van Drew “had been planning to seek reelection as a Democrat.” That was once true, but not since Van Drew decided to vote against impeaching Trump. It was then that he saw his support starting to plunge and it was then that more observant observers noted that Van Drew would be running for reelection as a Republican-- not after the vote. into in the 20s when he announced he would vote against impeaching Trump. The head of the biggest county Democratic Party in his district warned that if he voted for impeachment he’d be toast 2 weeks earlier. Freidman wrote that “After a frantic and unsuccessful effort to shore up party support-- Democratic leaders were abandoning him-- Van Drew switched to the GOP and, in a formal announcement, pledged his ‘undying support’ to Trump as he sat next to the president in the Oval Office.” The die had been cast when Van Drew was on Fox before the impeachment vote using GOP talking points to deride Democrats and belittle the whole reason for impeachment.

The presumed front-runner before the big switch was David Richter, former CEO of a family-founded company, Hill International. “Richter,” wrote Freidman, “quickly found his top political consultants and much of his staff leaving his campaign so as not to alienate the National Republican Congressional Committee, which is backing the newly-minted GOP incumbent. ‘The NRCC basically pulled them in and said, You need to be working for a Republican incumbent, and if you work for a Republican running against an incumbent, you’ll essentially be blackballed from doing further work,’ Richter said. Chris Russell, who had been one of Richter’s consultants, said his firm’s decision not to work against a party-endorsed incumbent was ‘our choice’ because ‘we felt it was a conflict.’ NRCC spokesperson Michael McAdams said in a statement the committee ‘doesn’t blacklist consultants.’” The DCCC, pre-Bustos, used to say the same thing. It was never true, although it was Bustos who made it formal.

In his piece, Freidman put of NRCC propaganda that Van Drew is the local boy and that the other three Republicans are carpetbaggers. “The other three Republicans claim connection to the district, though they have all recently lived somewhere else.”

Richter was a longtime Princeton resident, which is far outside the district, and rented a home less than two years ago in Miami Beach, Fla., where he planned to move and where he voted in 2018 before ultimately deciding to stay in New Jersey. He moved into the district in the fall, while his children continue to go to school in Princeton.

Fitzherbert, who grew up in North Jersey, has owned a home in the district since he was 23 but has moved around the country in recent years “as a result of the demands of the job,” and only began voting in the 2nd District in June 2018.

Patterson, who grew up in a different part of South Jersey, ran unsuccessfully for Congress in New Jersey’s neighboring 1st District in 2016 after living in Virginia for about 20 years.

Prior to Van Drew, Richter had been the main target of Fitzherbert and Patterson. They both pointed out that his company, Hill International, had hired former Vice President Joe Biden’s brother as an executive of a subsidiary around the same time it secured a housing contract in Iraq, which ultimately fell through.

Richter said it was his father’s decision to hire Biden‘s brother, and that he had warned against it. “The whole time we were in this business, I was pushing my dad to end it. And finally after several years of losses, he finally ended it and shut the whole thing down,” he said.

Fitzherbert’s campaign pointed out that Richter’s voting record was spotty, and that he had not voted in nearly half the primary and general elections in recent years.

Fitzherbert and Patterson [basically vanity candidates, especially Fitzherbert, who is also considered to be severely mentally ill even for a Republican] have potential weaknesses as well.

Fitzherbert has struggled to raise money, while Patterson has a history of controversial public statements, including favorably summarizing a study in a conservative journal in which he and a co-author wrote that using condoms “robs a woman of all these remarkable chemicals” found in semen.

That statement, along with Patterson’s writings that criticized women choosing careers over marriage and raising children, led to his resignation in 2012 as an adviser to then-Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett after the Philadelphia Inquirer raised questions about them.

“I have written hundreds of articles over my career, and some of those articles dared to question or debunk liberal groupthink on many issues,” Patterson said. “In other cases, I was summarizing scientific findings of empirical studies that someone else conducted.”

With the support of Trump and the NRCC, Van Drew is the new frontrunner. Pressure will build on local leaders to back him as well, giving him the “party line,” which in most of the district bestows favorable ballot placement.

The fact that all three remain committed to the race poses another danger. Even if Republican primary voters are suspicious of Van Drew’s motives for fleeing the Democratic Party, they might split their votes among the three challengers.

…Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray suggested the primary may get less crowded if local Republican leaders fall in line behind Van Drew-- something that’s already beginning with some local GOP chairs.

“Right now, it looks like it’s going to be crowded, but it could end up falling by the wayside if you have some key leaders ... coming out in support of a particular candidate,” Murray said. “If it happens to be Van Drew, you’re going to see the entire party get in line by the April filing deadline.”

The race won’t be over with the primary. Despite its Trump leaning, the 2nd District remains highly competitive, and Democrats plan to compete there. Three candidates-- political science professor Brigid Harrison, Atlantic County Freeholder Ashley Bennett and environmentalist John Francis-- are seeking the Democratic nomination.

“Certainly this leans Republican, and whoever the nominee is will be considered the favorite,’ but by how much of a favorite really depends on the presidential election,” Murray said.

The DCCC/EMILY’s List candidate, Brigid Harrison, also just happens to be the Norcross South Jersey machine candidate-- the same bunch of crooks who brought us Jefferson Van Drew… so of course the DCCC and EMILY’s List looked to them to pick the next candidate.