N.J. Rep. Van Drew, who sought to overturn the election, acknowledges Biden was ‘duly elected’

President Donald Trump has rally at Wildwood Convention Center

Rep. Jeff Van Drew acknowledges President Donald Trump during a January 2020 rally at the Wildwoods Convention Center.Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance MediaAristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media

After supporting President Donald Trump’s disproven claims of voter fraud and backing efforts to overturn the presidential election, N.J. Rep. Jeff Van Drew finally acknowledged Wednesday that Joe Biden was the “duly elected” president of the United States.

Van Drew, R-2nd Dist., attended the inauguration at the Capitol to “respectfully watch President Joe Biden take his oath as the duly-elected 46th president of the United States.”

His acknowledgement of Biden’s victory came two weeks after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a failed attempt to block Congress from certifying the electoral votes giving Biden the victory.

After the rioters were cleared out, Van Drew joined a majority of House Republicans and voted twice to reject the certified electoral votes. The efforts failed.

Van Drew also joined a House GOP effort to get the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out millions of votes cast for Biden and overturn his victory.

On Wednesday, though, Van Drew mirrored the new president’s call for unity.

“Our work will once again begin anew and while we may not always agree, we must all work together to fight for a strong America and a strong South Jersey,” Van Drew said. “It is up to all of us to build upon our past success and write the next chapter of our uniquely and inherently American story.”

New Jersey’s only other Republican representative, Chris Smith, declined to join the lawsuit and voted to uphold the electoral votes.

Van Drew first was elected as a Democrat in 2018, but switched parties after opposing Trump’s first impeachment and then was feted by the president at a rally in Wildwood. He was re-elected as a Republican in 2020 and again voted against impeaching Trump.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant.

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