The Democratic Party’s majority in the House of Representatives just shrunk — and that’s not all.
Whether it’s the presidential candidates gunning for the 2020 election or on Capitol Hill, Democrats are dropping like flies.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment push is collapsing before her very eyes.
And now two Democrats are saying good-bye to the political party.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew, D-N.J., the freshman Democrat whose been outspoken about his disapproval of impeachment from day one, is filling out his paperwork to leave the party.
Pennsylvania state Rep. John Yudichak, D-Penn., is also out on the Democratic Party, with Penn Live reporting that he will become an Independent and caucus with Republicans in the state capital of Harrisburg.
As for Van Drew, he’s crossing over to the other side and joining the Republican Party. And he wasted no time in getting acquainted with his new political allies.
Top House Republicans have been told of Van Drew’s decision, according to a GOP official familiar with the conversations. The lawmaker had discussed switching parties in a meeting with Trump at the White House on Friday, an administration official said Saturday.
Trump put out a congratulatory tweet early Sunday. “Thank you for your honesty Jeff. All of the Democrats know you are right, but unlike you, they don’t have the “guts” to say so!”
Thank you for your honesty Jeff. All of the Democrats know you are right, but unlike you, they don’t have the “guts” to say so! https://t.co/OUc46HUwPq
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 15, 2019
Van Drew’s decision underscores the pressures facing moderate Democrats from Trump-leaning districts as next week’s impeachment vote approaches.
There are 31 House Democrats who represent districts Trump carried in the 2016 election, and many of them have been nervous about the political repercussions they would face by voting to impeach Trump. The House Republican campaign committee has already run ads targeting many of them, and there are whispers in D.C. that they’ll vote against Trump’s impeachment.
A senior Democratic aide said Van Drew had not notified House Democratic leaders about his decision.
A senior Democratic aide provided what was described as a poll conducted earlier this month by Van Drew’s campaign showing that by more than a 2-1 margin, people in his district would prefer a different candidate than Van Drew in the Democratic primary and general election.
Rumors surfaced last week that Van Drew might switch parties, and he repeatedly denied them to reporters. But he reaffirmed his plan to oppose impeachment, barring new evidence.
“It doesn’t mean that I agree with everything the president may have said or done. It means that I don’t believe that these are impeachable offenses,” he said in an interview Thursday.
Van Drew was a longtime state senator. His congressional district had been under Republican control for nearly two decades before he was elected.
The House is set to approve two articles of impeachment against Trump this coming week. Democrats, who hold the majority, expect support from all but a few of their members. No Republicans are expected to join them.
The Republican-controlled Senate is then all but certain to acquit Trump after a trial in January.
Van Drew has argued that the process is likely just to further divide the country and it would be better to let voters decide Trump’s fate in next year’s election.
In the first article of the Democratic-led impeachment, Trump is accused of abusing his presidential power by asking Ukraine to investigate his 2020 rival Joe Biden while holding military aid as leverage. In the second article, he’s accused of obstructing Congress by blocking the House’s efforts to investigate his actions.
The Associated Press contributed to this article