Trump celebrates Van Drew’s switch, declares it would be “big” in new tweet

WASHINGTON, D.C. – While the county GOP chairs have struck a cautious tone and the district’s two big state senators – Brown (R-2) and Testa (R-1) – are reserving judgment and deferring to Trump, respectively, President Donald Trump is unambiguously celebrating the anticipated defection of freshman Democrat Jeff Van Drew to the Republican Party.

The Commander-in-Chief fired off a happy tweet early Sunday, seemingly confirming reports that Trump had met with Van Drew and urged him to flip:

It’s an unusual political situation. Van Drew will start out as a relatively liberal Republican with a big sales job ahead of him in a Republican primary, but a direct Trump endorsement would make it hard for any Van Drew intra-party opponents to attack the defecting Democrat from the Congressman’s right. NJ-02 is a pro-Trump district that supported the president albeit narrowly in 2016.

How far Trump is willing to go in assisting Van Drew remains unclear.

“Now, the questions for 2020 are 1) to what extent Trump follows through on giving cover to Van Drew in next June’s GOP primary and 2) whether Democrats are able to find a candidate capable of exacting revenge next fall,” said David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report on Monday, announcing that the prognostication mainstay was switching its district rating to “lean Republican” from toss up.

Former Trump Administration official Bob Patterson, constructive executive David Richter, and millennial engineer Brian Fitzherbert have also indicated that they intend to remain in the hunt for the GOP nomination.

The likely Democrat field thus far looks far-to-the-left of the departing Van Drew.

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