Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester), who has not always had the smoothest of relationships with former President Donald Trump, confirmed to the New Jersey Globe today that he is supporting Trump for president in this year’s election.
Smith, who has represented different parts of New Jersey in Congress for more than 43 years, was in attendance at Trump’s rally in Wildwood earlier this month; Trump praised Smith from the rally stage as “a fighter for me for a long time.”
That’s a far cry from what Trump said about Smith just a few years ago, when the former president was angry at the congressman for supporting the certification of the 2020 election and Congress’ massive bipartisan infrastructure bill. In late 2021, Trump issued a call for “good and smart America First Republican patriots” to take on Smith in a 4th congressional district Republican primary, saying they would have his support if they did.
Several right-wing challengers did indeed emerge that year, but Trump never followed through on his promise to back any of them, and Smith ended up winning renomination with 58% of the vote against podcaster Mike Crispi’s 37%. Since then, Trump and Smith have evidently buried the hatchet enough to support each other’s elections this year.
Smith told the New Jersey Globe that he particularly supports defending Trump from the myriad legal charges being pursued against him, which he said were politically motivated.
“Frankly, what’s happening in New York, all of this weaponization of our judiciary – I found it appalling. It’s the same thing they do in Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua,” Smith said. “I think it’s awful to go after a president using trumped-up charges.”
With Smith now officially in Trump’s corner, the former president has the backing of two of New Jersey’s three Republican members of Congress. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) has been an ardent Trump ally since he switched parties in 2019, and is in fact serving as Trump’s campaign chair in New Jersey this year.
The one missing Republican is Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), a swing-seat representative who has generally been loath to discuss Trump since he first ran for Congress in 2020.