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Man tapped to run Rep. Van Drew’s re-election campaign is now leading the charge to beat him after the congressman became a Republican
Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Man tapped to run Rep. Van Drew’s re-election campaign is now leading the charge to beat him after the congressman became a Republican

'Of course it's strange'

The man who was supposed to run the re-election campaign for Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) is now leading the charge to oust him from his seat.

Joshua Roesch, a New Jersey local, had been hired on to manage Van Drew's campaign. Then in December, the South Jersey congressman announced he was switching to the Republican Party and pledged his "undying support" to President Donald Trump. Now, Roesch has been named the campaign manager for Democratic candidate Amy Kennedy, who is seeking to unseat Van Drew, according to an NJ.com report.

"Is it strange? Of course it's strange. It's a unique situation," Roesch reportedly told NJ.com.

"I thought I was working for a Democrat," Roesch said. "I'd like to go work for a Democrat still."

Roesch, like most of Van Drew's congressional staff, quit after the congressman decided to leave the Democratic Party.

In his new job, Roesch says he is working for a candidate that "best represents the district [he] grew up in" and is "dedicated to serving people in our community and doing what's right."

Kennedy, a former public school teacher, is one of five candidates running for the Democratic nomination for New Jersey's 2nd Congressional District.

She is also the wife of former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who served Rhode Island's 1st Congressional District as a Democratic member of the House Representatives and is the son of the late Massachusetts Sen. and liberal firebrand Ted Kennedy.

In the announcement for her campaign, Kennedy called out Van Drew for losing his "moral compass" by switching parties.

Roesch appears to support the sentiment, arguing on Twitter that Van Drew "turned his back on South Jersey families."

Last month, after switching parties, Van Drew revealed that he was threatened by a local Democratic Party county chairman in his congressional district, who warned there would be political consequences if he voted against impeaching President Donald Trump. This, he said, was the "final straw."

"It made me think for all the years that I've worked so hard and tried to give so much not only to the party but to everybody … 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," Van Drew said in the Fox News interview.

"And I'm going to be punished for that? And that's when I knew," he explained.

President Trump has since endorsed Van Drew in the race for New Jersey's 2nd Congressional District.

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