Van Drew Supports Lawsuit Challenging President-Elect Biden's Win

SOUTH JERSEY — Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-Cape May, joined more than 100 Republican members of Congress who expressed support for Texas's lawsuit seeking to invalidate President-elect Joe Biden's victory in key battleground states.

Currently, 126 House members support the Texas-led bid to potentially overturn Biden's election victories in several swing states.

Texas and 17 other states have joined President Donald Trump in an effort to persuade the US Supreme Court to intervene in the final days before the Electoral College meets to vote. The suit claims that Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin and Michigan compromised the election through last-minute changes to election law.

The 44-page amicus shows which members of Congress have urged the Supreme Court to intervene. Van Drew was listed as a representative from South Carolina, but he's a congressman from South Jersey who was first elected in 2016.

Van Drew's spokesperson didn't immediately return comment to Patch.

The congressional members' support drew fire from many in the legal community and media who view the lawsuit as an attempt to disenfranchise millions of voters who supported Biden.

The lawsuit focuses on the security of mail-in voting, and it alleges that certain states opened the election up to fraud by no longer requiring signature verification on mail-in ballots. Texas filed the original lawsuit against the battleground states on Tuesday.

US Attorney General William Barr and many others have repeatedly said there is no evidence of fraud in the 2020 election and that there is no evidence to indicate that mail-in voting is not secure. The claims made in this multistate suit were raised repeatedly in cases dismissed in both federal and state court in Pennsylvania.

All 50 states have certified their 2020 presidential election results, setting the stage for a 306-232 Biden victory when the Electoral College meets Monday to vote.

Supreme Court justices denied a Republican effort Tuesday to challenge a 2019 Pennsylvania law that expanded mail-in voting. On Wednesday, the US Supreme Court rejected a separate filing from U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly and former House candidate Sean Parnell that challenged the legality of Pennsylvania's Act 77, a bipartisan measure passed before the pandemic which allowed for "no excuse" mail-in voting.

Van Drew is the only congressman representing New Jersey listed on the amicus. The Republican won re-election in November against Democratic candidate Amy Kennedy by a margin of 51.9 percent to 46.2 percent.

Van Drew is a former Democrat who switched to the Republican Party in 2019, pledging to support Trump. He and Chris Smith will continue as New Jersey's only Republican members of Congress.

States that joined Texas in the lawsuit include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia.

New Jersey joined 21 states and territories to defend the battleground states. Read more: NJ Joins Fight To Preserve Presidential Election Results

"The people have chosen. These baseless lawsuits and this misinformation campaign must end," said New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal. "States took steps to ensure their elections could operate fairly, efficiently and safely in the midst of #COVID19 and I'm proud to stand up for those efforts, and our democracy."

With reporting from Justin Heinze/Patch

This article originally appeared on the Ocean City Patch