Van Drew steps up interest in U.S. Senate run

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a three-term Republican congressman from South Jersey, is sending strong signals today that he is serious about a run for the United States Senate next year, launching a statewide digital ad campaign today asking New Jerseyans if he should take on Bob Menendez.

“Thousands have reached out urging me to run for the U.S. Senate following the indictment of our corrupt Democrat Senator Bob Menendez,” Van Drew says in his ad.  “I’ll be honest with you.  I haven’t made up my mind on whether I will run or not.  But, what I can tell you is that Menendez will not resign.  And given his track record, he is one of the most dangerous elected officials in Washington.”

The ad includes an interactive poll about whether Menendez should be re-elected and seeks to collect email addresses and cell phone numbers.

Van Drew told Save Jersey last weekend that he was exploring a Senate run.

A strong supporter of Donald Trump’s bid to regain the presidency, Van Drew is a former Democrat who switched parties after his first year in Congress after refusing to vote to impeach Trump.

If he runs, Van Drew would become the first sitting Republican congressman to run statewide since Rep. Bob Franks sought an open Senate seat in 2000.  If Menendez remains in the race, Van Drew would be the first incumbent House member to challenge an incumbent since 1912.

Van Drew spent seventeen years in the New Jersey Legislature before running for Congress in 2018 ; he flipped an open House seat held by Republicans for 24 years.

If he decides to take the leap, Van Drew would likely supplant Mendham Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner as the frontrunner in the race.   Serrano Glassner launched her campaign less than a week before the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New Jersey unsealed an indictment against Menendez on bribery charges.

Since then, Serrano Glassner, a former Bush administration official with close ties to Trump, has secured endorsements from Rep. Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) and top Republican officials in Morris County.

There are three other candidates in the race: Shirley Maia-Cusick, an Abzugian immigration consultant from Hunterdon County; Daniel Cruz, a former Andover Regional School District Board of Education member who won 17% of the vote in a GOP State Senate primary two years ago; and Gregg Mele, a perennial candidate and the 2021 Libertarian candidate for governor.

Menendez already faces a primary challenge from Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), progressive activist Larry Hamm, and newcomer Kyle Jasey, the son of a retiring Essex County assemblywoman.  First Lady Tammy Murphy and Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-Long Branch) and Donald Norcross (D-Camden) are also potential candidates.