Trump Hits Jersey Shore to Rally for Party-Switching Congressman

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump is headed to the Jersey Shore on Tuesday to host a political rally for Jeff Van Drew, the congressman who switched parties to join House Republicans in protest of the impeachment vote.

The president’s visit to Wildwood is intended to bolster the freshman lawmaker, who won his seat as part of the Democratic wave of 2018 but subsequently declared his “undying support” for the president during an Oval Office meeting. Trump has repeatedly touted Van Drew’s defection to argue that the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry is illegitimate, and told the lawmaker he would endorse his re-election bid.

“Everything was perfect, and they impeach,” Trump told reporters at the White House earlier this month. “It’s totally partisan. We had 195 to nothing, Republican votes. I guess we got a Democrat actually came over to the Republican side.”

The move has jumbled a Republican primary in which Hill International Inc. Chief Executive Officer David Richter and former Trump administration official Brian Fitzherbert had been expected to vie for the GOP nomination. Richter told Politico last week he was considering switching districts and instead challenging Democrat Andy Kim, a first-term Democrat representing New Jersey’s Third District.

Holding Van Drew’s seat will be important for Republican efforts to retake the House of Representatives in the November elections. But the rally’s location – at a popular resort town on the southern tip of New Jersey frequented by Philadelphia residents – should also ensure media coverage back in Pennsylvania, one of a group of swing states Trump hopes to win again to ensure his re-election.

This post is part of Campaign Update, our live coverage from the 2020 campaign trail.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, John Harney

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