President Donald Trump has sought to undo most of what former President Joe Biden accomplished in office, but his administration has chosen to retain at least one appointee from the Biden era: New Jersey Farm Service Agency executive director Bob Andrzejczak.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced today that Andrzejczak, a former Democratic state legislator from Cape May County who lost re-election in 2019, will be reappointed to his post leading the state farm agency, which doesn’t require Senate confirmation. Andrzejczak had first been named to the job by Biden in 2022.
“When rural America succeeds, our entire country is stronger,” Rollins said in a statement about a wave of Agriculture Department appointments spanning 12 states. “These newly appointed USDA state directors will play a critical role in advancing President Trump’s America First agenda in the states and ensuring that our farmers and ranchers are prioritized.”
Andrzejczak, a U.S. Army veteran severely injured in combat, arrived in the State Assembly in 2013 after being recruited by Jeff Van Drew, then a Democratic state senator who was the dominant force in Cape May County politics. When Van Drew was elected to Congress in 2018, Andrzejczak was appointed to succeed him in the State Senate, but he was defeated by now-State Sen. Mike Testa (R-Vineland) when he tried to run for re-election.
Van Drew, of course, has since switched parties and become Trump’s most loyal ally in the New Jersey congressional delegation. But Van Drew’s distaste for the Biden administration didn’t extend to Andrzejczak, and the congressman said earlier this year that he’d like to see Andrzejczak stick around under Trump.
“I’ve heard from many farmers about how he’s been proactive, he’s been involved, he’s been there,” Van Drew told the New Jersey Globe shortly before Trump took office in January. “He’s actually worked the job; it wasn’t just a patronage job that he got and then boom, he’s not doing anything. He’s not particularly political; he’s more of a veteran hero than he is a Republican or a Democrat.”
During his 2019 re-election campaign, Andrzejczak sought to distance himself from the national Democratic Party brand, suggesting at one point that he’d be open to voting for Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
Voter registration records show that while Andrzejczak cast a vote in this year’s state-level Democratic primary, he’s since become an unaffiliated voter.
The post Former Democratic state senator reappointed to state farm post by Trump admin appeared first on New Jersey Globe.