Democrat Challenging Van Drew Outlines Campaign Issues
Editor’s note: A story on Jeff Van Drew and his campaign for reelection will be upcoming.
NORTH CAPE MAY – Joe Salerno sold a software business he developed and then worked for the new owners for three years, ending in 2022, before heading out on a completely new venture – running for the U.S. House of Representatives from the state’s 2nd Congressional District.
Salerno, a Democrat, is opposing Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-2), who has held the seat since 2019.
Salerno, a North Cape May resident, said he was not a lifelong Democrat but that his immigrant father, born in 1925, was a strong FDR Democrat. His father, mother and three brothers were all born in Italy. He was the only child in his family not to be born here.
“My Dad used to joke that all of his friends, every Italian he knew, once they got some money together would become Republican,” he said.
For his part, he was “kind of anti-partisan” for a long time, and never felt any need to declare a party.
“I really valued my independence,” he said.
Salerno credits what he called the rise of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, and all the norm-breaking, for his decision to register as a Democrat and, eventually, to run for Congress.
He attended law school but realized he would never practice law, so he studied what intrigued him, which was constitutional history and civil rights, and he served in a constitutional litigation clinic. He said he is a huge fan of the writings of the framers of the U.S. Constitution and of the Enlightenment Era. The American Enlightenment was a period of intellectual and philosophical fervor in the 13 American colonies from the 18th to 19th century.
“I was impressed with the notion of having the courage to follow your own convictions, so did not feel comfortable working within party parameters. That changed,” Salerno said.
He said the attempted assassination on Trump on July 13 was both devastating and predictable given the tenor of the political conversation right now.
“Just look at the kind of language Jeff uses, your routinely right language; Democrats are evil people, they are trying to destroy the substance of our country’s fabric … It’s so clearly intentional to provoke fear and anger,” Salerno said. “I always felt we can’t give divisive messages and promote unity.”
He referenced Abraham Lincoln’s famed “House Divided” speech, in which Lincoln said he didn’t think the country would remain divided, but would become all one thing or all the other.
“I think that’s where a lot of people are right now, that the idea of unity is unity by conquest,” he said.
Referring to the problem of immigration at the country’s southern border, Salerno said that comments from the Republican Party, the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 and even from Trump suggest the U.S. should “build a wall and throw 11 million people over it.” He said the Republican Party is not seriously considering bills that realistically address immigration but redefine asylum and limit border crossings.
He quoted Thomas Jefferson regarding handling the immigration issue, saying Jefferson said, “We should have the wisdom to do what good we can when we can’t do everything we would wish.”
Salerno said the Republican Party he was familiar with doesn’t seem to exist right now, but is the party of Trump. He said Trump can be moderate at times, but often he’s speaking out of victimization and anger. He said Trump has cowed everyone else in the party to going along, and if you don’t go along, you’re out of the party. He said this is evidence that Van Drew is probably one of Trump’s most devoted acolytes.
“He has no point of view of his own,” Salerno said.
He said the 2nd District has had a history of electing centrists to Congress, including Bill Hughes, a Democrat, and Frank LoBiondo, a Republican. He said in 2018 Van Drew ran as a Democrat against Republican Seth Grossman, who he said was too MAGA for the district, and then Van Drew changed parties and pledged his undying loyalty to Trump.
Salerno quoted Winston Churchill at that point, saying, “Some men change party because of principle and some men change principle because of the party.” He said Van Drew stayed moderate just long enough to beat Amy Kennedy in 2020 and now has drifted far right.
“He’s changed his position on just about everything,” he said.
According to Salerno, Van Drew is consistent on abortion, saying the congressman is troubled by third-trimester abortions, or aborting healthy babies inside healthy mothers.
“That rarely ever happens, and yes, we’re all concerned about such things,” he said.
He said Van Drew in 2018 said he would fiercely oppose taking away AN individual’s right to choose, and now has voted to restrict the abortion pill mifepristone, won’t pay for soldiers to go out of state to get abortions and won’t reimburse any abortion expenses in the military. He’s got an A rating from the Susan B. Anthony Right to Life lobby.
“I’m certainly pro-choice … and I’d like to see federal legislation to memorialize it. If I could get one thing done inside of Congress, that would be it,” he said.
Salerno said the Supreme Court kicked the can down the road with regard to abortions, and that in certain states women have to leave the state to receive abortion services unless they meet certain requirements related to the mother’s health.
He said Van Drew changed his views not only on abortion, but also on veterans, labor and the pride community.
About veterans services and rights, Salerno said this was a difficult topic for him because his family’s experience was so positive in terms of veterans services. His father was a World War II veteran and POW. He was captured in the Battle of the Bulge, and he was recalled for service in Korea. He ended up fully disabled, service-connected.
“The VA treated him wonderfully well,” Salerno said. “We clearly can do better for veterans here, so I don’t want to denigrate the Veterans Administration, who is so wonderful to my Dad, but it seems like we have a ways to go to make sure everyone gets the same treatment that my Dad got.”
He said this is in contrast to Van Drew, who he said voted against the PACT Act or the E-vest Act, which were both intended to help veterans.
Regarding support for Israel and the protests over Israeli actions in Gaza, Salerno said he did not support protesters trying to shut down campuses and force divestment in Israel. He said the conflict in Gaza helped expose a double standard, especially on college campuses, when it came to free speech. He said he is a big fan of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who served on the court in the first half of the 20th century, and his counter-speech doctrine, which basically says all non-violent speech should be honored.
“I still believe that antisemitism was a driver of the protests,” Salerno said.
Asked about the issues needing to be addressed in South Jersey, he said, “Economic opportunity, especially in ways that are not tightly correlated to tourism, is dear.”
He said the idea of bringing new economic opportunity into the district is something that should be a top priority for anybody in federal office. He said it was unfortunate that no one has been able to create public/private, state or regional partnerships to make it happen. He said the multimillion projects that come to the area tend to be bridge projects, while there are multibillion dollar projects that could provide more than 10,000 jobs.
Salerno commented on beach replenishment projects, saying the Shore is not just a local resource but also a state and national resource. He sees the need for all levels of government to share the expense to keep it healthy.
Regarding wind farms, he said, “Where there’s serious problems we need serious people who are willing to be extraordinarily pragmatic.”
“There’s a vast array of hysterical objections to wind farms, offshore wind, and then there are a few troubling concerns about wind farms. I start from the premise that climate change is not a hoax, and I think that’s something that I would love to hear Jeff Van Drew say out loud, especially given that Donald Trump says it all the time,” Salerno said.
He said all options needed to remedy power supply needs should be looked at, including wind power 40 miles offshore. He said he would like to know more about how it would affect the fishing industry.
He advocates proceeding “cautiously but pragmatically” toward all sorts of renewable energy sources. He is not opposed to nuclear power as long as it is safe and affordable, he said.
Salerno said America needs a functional Congress and more than ever needs pragmatic people willing to find intersection of interests. He said representatives need to be more thorough in the kind of statutes they write.
“This is a Congress that can’t even agree to outlaw bump stocks like New Jersey did during the Christie administration,” he said. “My message to voters in South Jersey is, if we don’t want to have a truly ineffectual government we’d better vote in people who are not hyperbolic in their attitudes and in their rhetoric and in their way of governing. I don’t think Jeff Van Drew qualifies, at least not this incarnation of him.”
Salerno wrapped up with another quote, this time by former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, who was responding to Ronald Reagan’s “Shining City on a Hill” speech.
“He said something like, Democrats believe in only the government we need but insist on having all of the government we need,” Salerno said. “I just think that’s lost on too many people.”
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
