President Donald Trump will stump for party-switching Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who left the Democratic Party to join the GOP in December due to his opposition to the House’s impeachment effort, with a rally in his New Jersey district later this month.
The Trump campaign announced that the president would be holding a rally in Wildwood on Jan 28. Wildwood is located in the state’s 2nd District, which Van Drew represents.
The announcement made no mention of the newly minted Republican, instead offering a statement from the campaign’s chief operating officer, Michael Glassner, that read, “President Trump looks forward to returning to the Garden State to celebrate his message of ‘Promises Made, Promises Kept.'”
Van Drew and Bill Stepien, adviser to both the Van Drew and Trump re-election campaigns, told the Press of Atlantic City at the end of December that they expected the president to visit the district in the near future.
“He is all in on this. So I would not be surprised if (the president) is in the district sooner rather than later,” Stepien said.
“It’s always an honor to have the president of the United States visit your state,” Van Drew told the outlet, adding he expected the visit to be in January or February.
Trump endorsed Van Drew in mid-December, when the freshman Democrat defected from his party due to his vehement opposition to the Trump impeachment. He was one of only two House Democrats who voted against the articles.
Van Drew’s district went for Trump in the 2016 election by a margin of 4.6 percent.
His decision to switch parties earned him a Democratic challenger. Amy Kennedy, the wife of former Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), launched her campaign to unseat him on Monday.
A spokesperson for Van Drew did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on whether he would be attending or speaking at the rally.