'Your Party Has Left You Behind': Jeff Van Drew Sends Message To The 'Forgotten Democrats' At RNC

5 months ago

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) delivered a passionate speech during night two of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, WI.

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Transcript

00:27Good evening.

00:29My name is Jeff Van Drew.

00:34Tonight, tonight I want to tell you my story.

00:41I am a proud Republican, but I haven't always been a Republican.

00:47I was elected to several offices in South Jersey and eventually was sent to the United

00:54States Congress, all of them as a conservative Democrat.

00:59Along the way, I noticed that I didn't like what the Democrats had become as a party.

01:05But more importantly, I didn't like what the Democratic Party was doing to our great United

01:12States of America.

01:18To the independents, and especially to the forgotten Democrats out there, for a moment

01:24I want to speak to you.

01:26I know how you feel tonight, because that's how I felt back in 2019.

01:33You feel like your party has left you behind, because it has.

01:39You feel like your party doesn't care about American workers and American working families,

01:46because it doesn't.

01:48And you are worried that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are hurting our country, because they

01:54are.

02:00I felt the same way.

02:03So after being a Democrat to vote against impeaching Donald Trump, I took a long walk

02:10with my Chief of Staff.

02:12I remember saying to her that perhaps my time in elected office was done.

02:19And you know what?

02:20I was okay with that.

02:22There was no way, no way, I could be a Democrat anymore.

02:34But then I received a call from the White House.

02:40President Trump asked me to meet with him.

02:42We spoke about family, faith, freedom, and friendship.

02:49He has been my good friend ever since that day.

03:00He said that I should be a Republican.

03:03I said, Mr. President, I will be a Republican.

03:14He said he would stick by me, and he always, always has.

03:21Ladies and gentlemen, after the tragic shooting last Saturday, we need to come together.

03:30All of us, all of us, Republicans, Democrats, and independents, we need to be the shining

03:38city on the hill, a nation that empowers us to do extraordinary things.

03:45We will conquer new challenges.

03:48We will reach new heights.

03:50And we will blaze new trails of greatness.

03:57We will make America great again.

04:11And we will elect Donald Trump this November.

04:23Now I have a question for you, and I'll give you the answer.

04:27The answer is yes.

04:29But we want to hear your answer from the East Coast to the West Coast and around the world.

04:35Can you do this?

04:38Will we win in November?

04:42Will we win in November?

04:47God bless you.

04:49God bless Donald Trump.

04:51And God bless the greatest country that ever existed on the face of the earth, the United

04:57States of America.

'Your Party Has Left You Behind': Jeff Van Drew Sends Message To The 'Forgotten Democrats' At RNC

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