Jeff Van Drew

Jeff Van Drew (born February 23, 1953) is an American Democratic Party politician who has served in the New Jersey Senate since 2008, where he represents the 1st Legislative District. From 2002 to 2008, Van Drew represented the 1st District in the General Assembly.

Political career

On November 6, 2007, Van Drew won his bid for a seat in the New Jersey Senate, defeating Republican incumbent Nicholas Asselta. In November 2011, Van Drew defeated Republican challenger David S. DeWeese by a margin of 24,557-20,857. He was reelected in the 2013 elections defeating Upper Township Republican businesswoman Susan Adelizzi Schmidt by 20 points.

Van Drew serves in the Senate on the Community and Urban Affairs Committee (Chair) and the Budget Committee. In the Assembly, Van Drew was a prime sponsor of the Fair Market Drug Pricing Act to provide reduced prescription drugs to eligible low-income consumers.

He has also sponsored legislation to address New Jersey's nursing shortage. Among his other legislative achievements are prohibiting unwanted telemarketing calls, controlling prescription drug errors, enforcing the ban on self-service gasoline stations, protections against predatory lending and tougher penalties for those who use the Internet to prey on children.

Van Drew served on the Dennis Township Committee in 1991, and as Mayor from 1997 to 2003 and from 1994 to 1995. Van Drew served on the Cape May County Board of Chosen Freeholders from 1994 to 1997. He was the Dennis Township Fire Commissioner from 1983 to 1986. Van Drew has served as president of the New Jersey Dental Society and a board expert of the New Jersey Board of Dentistry.

As a Cape May County Freeholder, Van Drew campaigned for an Atlantic Cape Community College campus in Cape May County, a goal that was realized with a groundbreaking ceremony for the campus in late 2002.

Van Drew graduated with a B.S. from Rutgers University and was awarded a D.D.S. degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He is a resident of Dennis Township, New Jersey.

District 1

Each of the forty districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The other representatives from the 1st Legislative District for the 2014-2015 Legislative Session are:

• Assemblyman Bob Andrzejczak (D), and
• Assemblyman R. Bruce Land (D)

Election history