Tonight’s RNC line-up include a few speakers who have switched parties

Tonight’s Republican National Convention’s program will feature a few speakers who notably left the Democratic Party since Donald Trump has been in politics.

New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew made waves in 2022 when he, as a freshman Democrat, switched parties. The “final sign”, he said, which prompted him to leave the Democratic Party was being told that he had to vote in support of Trump’s impeachment. 

Also, last year, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, a former Democratic state lawmaker, wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that he would be voting Republican and joining the GOP.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, who’s running for Senate now to fill Joe Manchin’s seat, has switched party affiliations a few times. He was an independent and a Republican up until 2015. He ran for governor as a Democrat. But in 2017, a year into Trump’s presidency, he announced he would change his registration to Republican at a rally with Trump.

Justice plans to appear at the convention with his bulldog, Babydog, who made an infamous appearance at his 2022 State of the State address.