Nearly three full years have passed since Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., left the Democratic Party for the Republican side of governing.
And Van Drew doesn't have one lingering regret about the move.
Democrat leaders "told me how to vote, and said, 'You will obey. ... But I told 'em, 'I'm from New Jersey. You don't talk to me that way,'" Van Drew recalled to Newsmax Tuesday afternoon, while appearing on "The Chris Salcedo Show."
Among the Democrats' most notable demands to the congressman: Van Drew said he was instructed to vote for impeachment of then-President Donald Trump.
"That's something I would never do," said Van Drew, who's up for reelection tonight in New Jersey's 2nd congressional district, which covers a large, reverse-L-shaped portion of the state's Atlantic Ocean coastline.
From Van Drew's perspective, Democrats favor encouraging division among the citizens, and the seeds of that contempt can be found in the lack of respect for law and order.
With Republicans, however, Van Drew attests the party supports the "fundamentals of America — faith, family, and freedom."
During his Newsmax interview, Van Drew was asked about the prospects of a "red wave" coming from Tuesday's election results.
This prompted the New Jersey Republican to knock the Democrats for spurring on the "crisis" along the United States-Mexico border, and implementing policies that led to record-high inflation levels and surging gas prices.
"Of course, people are leaving the Democratic Party. Of course, there's going to be a red wave," said Van Drew.
A dominant GOP victory would likely include a robust percentage of independent voters. And for still-undecided crowd of voters heading into Tuesday's midterms, Van Drew suggested a simple exercise of stocking up on groceries, filling up your car with gasoline, comparing the bottom lines of your 401k plan between the Biden and Trump administrations ... and then, after all that, "try paying your bills."
Regarding high inflation, Van Drew said, "People can't afford to live, and we're making it increasingly difficult for them to survive" on limited resources.
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