Democrat-turned-Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew held a lead of just under 10,000 votes over his opponent in his bid to hold onto his seat in New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District with about 74% of the vote counted Tuesday night.
Van Drew had about 141,202 votes, or 51%, ahead of Democrat challenger Amy Kennedy’s 131,336, or 47.4%, with two smaller party candidates garnering less than 4,300 votes combined. Kennedy is the wife of former Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, the son of former Sen. Ted Kennedy.
The 67-year-old Van Drew, a retired dentist who in 2018 became the first Democrat to win New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District since 1992, announced he was switching parties in December 2019 due to a series of issues, most notably the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
Van Drew spoke at the GOP convention in August, saying the Democratic Party had moved “from liberal to radical.”
New Jersey was one of a handful of states that mandated universal absentee voting, meaning all votes would be cast by mail. Voters could still go to the polls if they chose not to vote by mail, but would cast a provisional ballot, which would only be counted if the absentee ballot was confirmed not to have been cast.
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