Congressman Jeff Van Drew greets Jody Levchuk, in white shirt, with a fist bump while maintaining social distance.
By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Congressman Jeff Van Drew greets Jody Levchuk, in white shirt, with a fist bump while maintaining social distance.
Van Drew noted that he is opposed to sanctuary cities, but stressed that he supports immigrants who legally come to the United States.
“We are a nation of the rule of law. I love immigration. Almost all of us, the vast majority of us, are immigrants of some type. We came over here. My great-grandparents came over here,” he said.
However, he said the U.S. border must be protected from illegal immigration to help keep the country safe. He also said illegal immigration takes a toll on the U.S. economy, taxes and housing.
“It costs a fortune,” he said.
In seeking to draw distinctions between him and his election opponent, Van Drew portrayed Amy Kennedy as someone who “lurched to the left.”
Kennedy is a former teacher who lives in Brigantine and is married to ex-U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who served seven terms in Rhode Island from 1995 to 2011. Van Drew said Amy Kennedy is someone who believes in open borders and sanctuary cities and that South Jersey would be a much more “tumultuous” place if she is elected.
In a key election issue, Van Drew said he still wants voters to be able to go to the polls instead of largely conducting the election by mail-in ballots amid the pandemic.
He said he supports the normal procedures for mail-in ballots. Traditionally, mail-in ballots allow voters to vote when they are absent during an election and are closely scrutinized to make sure they are proper, he said.
But in this election, all active registered voters are receiving mail-in ballots. Van Drew is concerned with the possibility of election irregularities involving so many mail-in ballots.
If voters go to the polls, most of them won’t be allowed to use the machines. Instead, they will have to complete a paper ballot to vote at the polling places. Only people who have disabilities will be permitted to use the machines, election officials say.
Proposing a compromise, Van Drew suggested that half of the voters should be able to go to the polling places on the Monday before Election Day. The remaining half would vote on Election Day at the polls, he said. He believes that two days of voting would allow for social distancing because the polling places would not be overcrowded.
“People want to vote directly,” he said of voters going to the polling place.
Van Drew also is anxious to see New Jersey fully reopen its economy in the wake of the pandemic. He believes Gov. Phil Murphy could have done a much better job in gradually reopening key segments of the economy, including restaurants and gyms.
Central to his campaign, Van Drew is stressing the theme of a “strong America.” Along those lines, he opposes efforts to defund the police, an issue that is being debated amid the national reckoning on race relations.
“Let me be really clear. I stand with our police, period, because the majority of them are willing to prevent bad things, in very simple English, from happening to us,” he said.
Van Drew said he has spoken to people of all races in South Jersey who made it clear to him that they don’t want to see the police defunded.
“When I go to Atlantic City and I speak to black people, white people, Asian people, Bangladeshi people, do you know what they all say to me? We need more police, we need more protection,” he said.
Van Drew’s call for a “strong America” also includes what he believes should be a plan to ramp up the economy by protecting the U.S. supply chain and intellectual property instead of having to rely on China for such things as personal protective equipment amid the pandemic.
“It truthfully did come from China,” he said of the virus. “That doesn’t mean that we hate Chinese people, but their government, the Communist government, is a different story. It’s serious business and it’s something we have to deal with and look into.”
Van Drew also emphasized that he wants a strong U.S. military and hopes that the United States will become the world’s No. 1 energy producer, as well as the global leader in education, the environment and manufacturing – all part of what he calls “American exceptionalism.”
“Do you know what America is? It’s a No. 1 country,” he said. “It’s the country that Ronald Reagan talked about being the shining city on the hill, that beacon of light that everyone can really follow and really sends out goodness and safety. That’s what America can be.”
