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New Jersey Representative Jeff Van Drew has switched parties from Democrat to Republican over the House of Representatives' vote to impeach President Trump, citing its partisan nature and the political pressure he had received to vote along the party line.

Has this happened before, that a standing Member of Congress switched parties directly from one major party to the other? If so, when?

mherzl
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    Didn't it happen just a few months ago, with a Republican switching to Democrat? – zibadawa timmy Jan 02 '20 at 01:26
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    Maybe it would be more interesting to ask if any Congress members switched parties over impeachment before? – AquaticFire Jan 02 '20 at 02:05
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    Do you mean switching parties over an impeachment specifically, or switching parties over a specific issue, or just switching parties in general? –  Jan 02 '20 at 03:57
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    @zibadawatimmy You must be thinking of Justin Amash, who left the Republican Party in July 2019 but did not join the Democratic Party. – Tanner Swett Jan 02 '20 at 05:12
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    @zibadawatimmy Tanner is correct. Justin Amash left the Republican party, but most certainly did not become a Democrat. He's a (staunch) libertarian. His views are almost 180 degrees from those of the Democratic House leadership. The last member of Congress I can think of off-hand who switched R-to-D was Arlen Specter back in 2009. He was badly trailing his challenger in the Republican primary for 2010, so he switched parties and ran as a Democrat instead. However, he ended up losing that primary, too, and his GOP challenger won the general. – reirab Jan 02 '20 at 06:28
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    Why "partisan"? – Dmitri Zaitsev Jan 02 '20 at 08:36
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    @DmitriZaitsev: because the vote was along "party" lines maybe? – AbraCadaver Jan 02 '20 at 16:11
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    @AbraCadaver - Does that make the impeachment partisan, or does that make the opposition to impeachment partisan? If Trump would. on camera, "stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody," would an impeachment be partisan, or would those voting against it be the one's acting partisan? – PoloHoleSet Jan 02 '20 at 16:25
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    @PoloHoleSet: Both, that being said, the congressman switched parties over the impeachment not the opposition to impeachment. Also, that may be the congressman's wording "partisan impeachment" (not sure). – AbraCadaver Jan 02 '20 at 16:27
  • @AbraCadaver - That isn't relevant to how the person asking the question frames the impeachment. – PoloHoleSet Jan 02 '20 at 16:28
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    @PoloHoleSet The congressman framed it “It was supposed to be bipartisan, it was supposed to be incontrovertible. It was supposed to be something that was always on the rarest of circumstances,” Van Drew told reporters about impeachment earlier this week. “Well it’s not bipartisan.” So that's his reason for doing it, whether you agree or not. – AbraCadaver Jan 02 '20 at 16:30
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    @AbraCadaver - As I said before, that has nothing to do with the person asking the question framing it that way. The way it shows up in the question is the person asking is stating that it *is* a partisan impeachment, not that the Congressperson feels that way, or that it was the stated rationale. If a liberal got into hot water for saying that Trump is an a-hole, and I posted a question saying they got into trouble "for criticizing the a-hole President," people would and should take that to be a characterization I am making. – PoloHoleSet Jan 02 '20 at 16:34
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    There's literally a wikipedia page to answer this question. Asking it thus shows no prior attempt to answer it. – user2705196 Jan 02 '20 at 22:00
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    @user2705196 While I understand that perspective, this site, and overall SE network, aims to be an independent Q&A forum that is a first point of reference for people seeking answers. In particular, it is not to be subordinated to wikipedia. As such the objection "wikipedia did it" is rather weak. – zibadawa timmy Jan 03 '20 at 02:49
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    Off-topic, but just because he said he's switching because of the impeachment doesn't mean it's true. I'd wager a large part of why he's switching is because he lives in a conservative district (does he?). – President James K. Polk Jan 03 '20 at 13:21
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    In a strict sense, the house's vote to impeach was partisan because it was along party lines. But more saliently, it was partisan due to the political pressure made by the advocating party, as described by Congressman Van Drew himself. It is the reason he gave for having made the party switch. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=73WWbeV5ms8 – mherzl Jan 03 '20 at 14:28
  • @AbraCadaver - If you'll note the edit made by OP, the wording now gives a completely different connotation, without losing the representative's stated reason for switching, which is what I was after with my comments. – PoloHoleSet Jan 10 '20 at 15:29
  • I have rephrased the question, which I hope will satisfy commentators while preserving the voice of the original question. – mherzl Jan 11 '20 at 01:17

2 Answers2

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Has this ever happened before, that a standing Member of Congress switched parties directly from one major party to the other? If so, when?

The number of party switchers is too numerous to list here. The names and dates are provided in the links.

List of United States Representatives who switched parties, includes the reference to Jeff Van Drew.

List of United States senators who switched parties.

Party switching in the United States, includes a paragraph on Jeff Van Drew under Notable party switchers.

Democrat congressman Jefferson H. Van Drew left the Democratic Party arguing that it was swinging too far toward a radical progressive political agenda that, in his view, did not reflect the will of most people of the United States, and that Trump and what Republican Party had accomplished during the Trump presidency better reflected their will. In commenting on his party switching and reflecting on the shifting political direction of the Democratic Party, Van Drew quoted former President Ronald Reagan as having once said "I didn't leave my party, my party left me." Van Drew, who voted against the Democratic Party line in voting against impeaching Trump, claims that part of his decision to walk away from the Democrats was the alleged behaviour of at least one unnamed Democratic Party powerbroker who - in the days leading up to the House impeachment vote - had allegedly issued political threats towards him, threats that were alleged to be acted upon if he voted against impeachment, with following words to the effect "You will not get the line. You will not get the county. I will do everything to prevent that from happening and everything to destroy you." These words were disputed as "hyperbole" by a person, Mike Suleiman, interviewed by NBC10 who was thought by NBC10 to be the unnamed figure who allegedly issued the alleged political threats to Van Drew.

Motivations, from the above link.

Politicians may switch parties if they believe their views are no longer aligned with those of their current party. Richard Shelby of Alabama left the Democratic Party for the Republican Party, arguing that the former party had shifted more towards liberalism.

A disaffected incumbent who might not hold a leadership position or feels ignored or mistreated by the majority party might join the minority party with the expectation of holding a leadership position in the minority party and if currently elected, having the complete support of the minority party for re-election, who would certainly want to have more elected officials in their ranks.

Some politicians have also switched parties to improve their chances for reelection. Arlen Specter, a former US Senator of Pennsylvania, cited his uncertainty of winning a Republican primary as one reason for his move to the Democratic Party.

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Rick Smith
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    Interesting to note that representatives swap about 1 ever 6.5 years (so definitely not common), and 80% swapped from democrat to republican. It definitely isn't common. –  Jan 02 '20 at 04:29
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    "Every 6.5 years" sounds fairly common to me... I guess it's how "common" is defined... – Jeremy Holovacs Jan 02 '20 at 14:58
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    @jgn A lot more than 1 every 6.5 years. The wiki list mentions 16 just since 1989. That's about one every other year and the list explicitly claims not to be exhaustive. – reirab Jan 03 '20 at 07:38
  • @reirab Huh? I'm seeing 25 since 1856. While the list is incomplete, "once every other term" is not common by any means. –  Jan 03 '20 at 10:16
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    @jgn When talking about modern political parties, data "since 1989" is probably a lot more useful than data "since 1856." – Michael W. Jan 03 '20 at 16:19
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    Of note, Jim Jeffords's switch, although to Independent caucusing with DEM and not "officially" to DEM, changed the balance of the Senate from GOP (50-50 plus a GOP VP) to 51-49 for the DEMs. – Damila Jan 03 '20 at 16:42
  • @jgn Every entry on that list, save the one in 1856, has been since 1965. That combined with the statement above the list saying that it's incomplete and needs to be expanded leads me to guess that most of the data prior to '65 is just missing from the list, rather than that there was really only 1 party switch in the House in all of American history prior to 1965. At any rate, for the past 30 years, there has been an average of at least one party switch per term (i.e. every other year.) – reirab Jan 03 '20 at 23:44
  • @reirab I wouldn't really call that common. There seems to be a lot of attempts to make out that this is less noteworthy than it is. –  Jan 05 '20 at 23:12
  • @jgn Oh, I'm not saying that it isn't significant; just that it hasn't been especially rare over at least the last 30 years. Most of the swaps accompanied periods of significant change in a major party where members realized the party no longer aligned with their views (or their constituents' views) and others (like Arlen Specter) were attempts to save their own political career when they knew they would lose an upcoming primary in their current party. Many others who didn't switch parties got voted out when their party became no longer aligned with their electorates' views. – reirab Jan 06 '20 at 04:39
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This is common enough that there's even jargon for it - "Crossing the floor" - in the UK system, where changing from government and opposition parties sit in different places in the chamber.

This is historically pretty rare, but due to the situation triggered by Brexit, happened many times in the 2017-2019 parliament. Including 11 MPs leaving their parties to form a new party, and 22 MPs being suspended in one go for voting the wrong way.

The reason this is historically very rare is it's relatively unusual for an MP to get re-elected after changing parties. Of the 11 MPs who formed a new party, every single one lost their seat at the next election.

That's not always the case, though - in the US, Rodney Alexander was first elected as a Democrat, changed parties to Republican, then was re-elected as a Republican five times. While a senator Joe Liberman even lost the Democratic primary for his state, ran as an independent, and won.

Compared to the British system, the lists of US Senators and Representatives who have changed parties is extremely short.

mjt
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    Notably, in the most recent parliamentary election, every single MPs who 'crossed the floor' to another party over Brexit (and the large majority of those who 'lost the whip' for voting against the governing party) lost their seats and were voted out in favour of loyal MPs. Changing party isn't a good career move. – Valorum Jan 02 '20 at 15:13
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    @Valorum Changing to the winning party like Jeff Van Drew is a great career move. Betraying your constituents like the UK mp's is not. –  Jan 02 '20 at 17:55
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    @James - it depends on the timing and the circumstances . If you can jump and be given a cushy job in the opposition's top tier or a government role *and a safe seat* then crossing the floor can be profitable – Valorum Jan 02 '20 at 18:04
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    @James - The most recent US example that comes to my mind, that of Senator Arlen Spector, was not in fact a useful career move. He was prompted to switch by the fact that he looked sure to lose the Republican primary in 2010, so he instead proceeded to lose the *Democratic* primary. – T.E.D. Jan 02 '20 at 19:57
  • Also, that list does not include Zell Miller, who effectively switched parties in 2004 at the very end of his Senate term. I don't know about his voter registration, but he keynoted the RNC convention that year, actively campaigned for the Republican candidates that year and 2008, and never supported a major Democratic candidate thereafter. – T.E.D. Jan 02 '20 at 20:13
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    FWIW, at least here in Australia, "crossing the floor" means to literally move across the floor of Parliament to vote with the opposing party on a particular piece of legislation. Whilst there are often consequences for the person crossing the floor (e.g. they may get kicked out of their current party), it doesn't necessarily mean that they will change party; just that they voted differently to their party on that particular vote. – Jeremy Davis Jan 03 '20 at 01:49
  • While the number of switches in the U.S. may indeed be less than the U.K., it should be noted that the wiki list of party changes in the House claims to be incomplete (and, given that it only lists one switch before 1965, almost certainly is.) I'm not sure how much of the list is actually missing, but I'd guess it's a pretty substantial portion, especially prior to the middle of the 20th century. – reirab Jan 04 '20 at 18:08