(DCWatchdog.com) – The latest Republican Representative to voice his support for Manchin is also one of the party’s most prominent converts. After switching from the Democrats to the GOP in 2020, Representative Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) suggested that Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va) join the Republican Party as he did a year earlier.
Appearing on Newsmax’s Spicer & Co, the Republican Representative said he hoped Manchin joined the GOP, saying that the Democrat had his invitation, before adding that he believed the Republican Party was the future.
Van Drew was elected to Congress as a Democrat in 2018; by 2019, he abandoned voting along party lines to vote against impeaching former President Trump, who had been criticized for a phone call he made to Ukraine’s newly-elected President. A year later, Van Drew has officially made the transition, making him one of the most relevant figures in what could become Manchin’s political journey.
Manchin, who finds himself in a similar predicament to Van Drew, publicly announced his opposition to Biden’s Build Back Better Act earlier in the month, dousing any plans Biden had to pass it through the Senate. His decision has also earned him the ire of his Democrat cohorts. Given the Senate’s even split, Democrats need all their Senators to be onboard to achieve success.
While on Spicer & Co, Van Drew also stated he agreed with Manchin’s decision to reject the bill, declaring he thanked “God he didn’t vote for that bill.” Van Drew continued by saying that whether Manchin decided to become an independent or Republican, the West Virginia Senator would be “crazy” to remain in the party, adding that the Democrats are not “the party we used to know.”
When queried about the transition from Democrat to Republican, Van Drew quickly pointed out that Manchin would receive significant pushback from disgruntled Democrats. He also revealed that Democrats would likely be unwilling to accept the change. As a result, they may “say terrible things about him.”
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