The former campaign manager of New Jersey republican Jeff Van Drew, who switched parties over impeachment, has signed on to be the campaign manager for Van Drew’s Democratic challenger Amy Kennedy.
New Jersey local Joshua Roesch said in a statement that despite Van Drew’s initial appeal and his track record as a Democrat, the party switch had “betrayed those ideals and everything I thought we were working for.”
“I wanted to work for the person who I thought would best represent the district I grew up in. I know Amy Kennedy’s that candidate because she’s dedicated to serving people in our community and doing what’s right,” Roesch continued. “Amy Kennedy won’t turn her back on South Jersey families like mine.”
Kennedy, a former public-school teacher and wife of former Rhode Island representative Patrick Kennedy — a member of the powerful Massachusetts Kennedy clan — called out Van Drew for losing his “moral compass” in a video announcing her campaign.
Van Drew, a longtime state senator and first-time representative who flipped a 2016 Trump district with millions in support from Democrats, made headlines last month after his opposition to President Trump’s impeachment led him to switch parties.
Six of Van Drew’s staffers resigned over the switch, but Van Drew went ahead with the move and gave Trump his “undying support” as a moderate Republican.
Last week, Van Drew told Tucker Carlson he felt “liberated” by the move, and said he was alarmed by the progressive shifts in the Democratic party.
“They are not the old ‘Blue Dogs’ that I remember of years ago,” Van Drew said. “ . . . I feel more comfortable as a Republican. I’ve always been more conservative, and frankly, I feel like I’ve been liberated.”
