[Washington Examiner] Rep. Jeff Van Drew said he decided to leave the Democratic Party when a party county chairman ordered him to vote to impeach President Trump.
The New Jersey lawmaker appeared on Fox News's Sunday Morning Futures to discuss his decision to join the Republican Party. Van Drew pledged to join the GOP after voting against impeaching Trump, one of just two Democrats to vote against both articles of impeachment.
"The party is moving further and further to the Left where there’s discussions of it being a socialist party, and I am a proud capitalist. I believe in hard work," Van Drew said, criticizing the radical direction of the Democratic Party.
He finally decided to abandon the party, though, after a county chairman from one of the eight counties he represents told him that "you've got to vote for impeachment. If you don’t, you’re not going to be able to run in my county," calling the remark the "final sign" he needed to change parties.
"First of all, I still could have run," Van Drew said.
He continued, "But it made me think, for all the years that I have worked so hard and tried to give so much ... and it all boils down to one vote, that I may have my own individual opinion on one vote, and that's not going to be allowed? I'm going to be punished for that? And that's when I knew." 
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