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Amy
Kennedy, a former teacher who lives in Van Drew's southern New
Jersey district, announced her candidacy in a short video
released on Monday, becoming the fifth Democratic candidate in
the primary race.
She is the wife of Patrick J. Kennedy, a nephew of former U.S.
President John F. Kennedy who represented a Rhode Island
congressional district from 1995 to 2011. The family has been
one of the most prominent in American politics.
"Trump and Van Drew are symptoms of a bigger sickness infecting
our country and our politics," Kennedy said in the video.
It also shows a clip of Van Drew shaking hands with a smiling
Trump from last month's Oval Office meeting in which he pledged
his "undying support" for the Republican president, who carried
the New Jersey district in the 2016 election.
Van Drew, 66, switched parties after being one of only two
Democrats who voted last month to oppose both articles of
impeachment faced by Trump.
The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives voted to
impeach Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress,
saying he should be removed from office after a trial by the
Senate, which is controlled by Republicans who are unlikely to
agree.
Van Drew, then a conservative Democrat, was elected to the House
in 2018 from a district that favored Trump by 5 percentage
points.
That district, which voted for Barack Obama, a Democrat, in the
two presidential elections before 2016, stretches across the
state, from the suburbs of Philadelphia to the gambling resort
of Atlantic City on the coast.
Kennedy, a director at a mental health care advocacy group
founded by her husband, used her launch video to decry the
impact of climate change on the New Jersey coastline. If
elected, she pledged to focus on the "crisis" of mental health
and addiction that affects many American families.
In June's primary election, she will face Ashley Bennett and
John Francis III, who both hold local elected offices; Will
Cunningham, who worked for New Jersey Senator Cory Booker; and
Brigid Harrison, a Montclair State University professor who has
been endorsed by a majority of Democratic Party leaders in the
district, according to Politico.
Three Republicans remain in the race, having announced their
challenges prior to Van Drew's switching allegiance.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Frank
McGurty and Dan Grebler)
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