Brown says he hasn’t heard about Richter district swap

State Sen. Chris Brown said he had not heard about David Richter dropping his second district House bid in favor of a challenge against Rep. Andy Kim (D-Marlton).

“I’m unaware of everything you’re asking me,” Brown said.

Richter, once the frontrunner for the Republican nod to take on Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), was made the odd man out by Van Drew’s defection to the GOP.

Van Drew switched his party affiliation last month after losing support from rank-and-file Democrats over his opposition to impeachment against President Donald Trump.

Richter’s decision to run in the second district has faced pushback from some Republican county chairs and a growing number of Republican women, including seven GOP women legislators, who fear that former Hill International CEO’s swap is engineered to push out a GOP woman.

Kate Gibbs, a former Burlington County freeholder director, is also seeking the nod to take on Kim.

Brown said he hasn’t heard about the pushback to Richter’s switch either.

“All of the above,” he said when asked to clarify which aspects of Richter’s switch he was unaware of.

Richter announced his second district bid in August. The switch was discussed during a rally for Van Drew Trump held in Wildwood Tuesday, where Richter gave a speech that involved promises to defeat Kim.

Brown attended the rally and led the crowd in the pledge of allegiance.

“I must have missed that,” he said, referring to Richter’s references to his new district.