Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) told the Republican National Convention Thursday night that the party he once knew turned from “liberal to radical” after seeing members of the far-left “Squad” take charge of the Democratic Party.
“How I became a Republican says a lot about today’s Democratic Party,” Van Drew said at the beginning of his speech.
The South Jersey congressman talked about when he was a local dentist and was asked by the Democratic Party to run for a town council seat.
“I had my doubts, and I explained that my views were middle-of-the-road to conservative,” Van Drew said.
But local leaders urged him that the Democrats were a “big tent” party.
As Van Drew advanced in his political career, he noticed that the Democrats as a party had become “less accepting of American tradition, less believing in American exceptionalism, and less supportive of traditional faith and family.”
“This was not the party that I knew,” he said. Once Van Drew was elected to Congress as a Democrat, he already showed his true colors by casting his first vote in Congress against Nancy Pelosi for speaker.
“Imagine how I felt after seeing members of The Squad quickly take control of the Democratic Party just weeks after being elected,” Van Drew said. “The party had moved from liberal to radical.”
“This new Democratic Party wasn’t just for higher taxes. Now they were for open borders, against our police, and against our God-given rights,” he continued.
After a “no” vote on impeachment, Van Drew met with President Donald Trump and changed his party affiliation to Republican.
Van Drew closed his speech by saying there are a lot of former Democrats who support Trump and are “disgusted” at what the Democrat Party had become.
“Here’s my advice: be true to who you are now, not who the Democrats used to be,” he said. “That’s why I am a proud Republican and why I will be voting for Donald Trump.”