Trump calls for Republican primary challenger to Chris Smith after he

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday called for “good and smart America First Republican patriots” to launch a primary challenge against Rep. Chris Smith, one of 13 House GOP lawmakers to back President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion infrastructure bill.

“You will have my backing,” Trump promised in a statement.

Trump singled out Smith, R-4th Dist., and 10 other House Republicans who either supported the legislation or voted to impeach him for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

“Saving America starts by saving the GOP from RINOs, sellouts, and known losers,” he said. GOP lawmakers who refuse to always toe the party line have been criticized as RINOs, or Republicans in name only.

Smith did not respond to a request for comment. Trump received 55% in Smith’s district in 2020, more than elsewhere in the state, according to Daily Kos.

While voting twice against impeaching Trump, Smith refused to go along with the president’s false claims of a stolen election, voting to certify the electoral votes in two battleground states even as most of his GOP colleagues rejected the results.

He also refused to join an effort that included House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy of California to get the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the election results and return Trump to the White House. And he backed a bipartisan independent commission to investigate the riot by pro-Trump supporters.

Trump repeatedly has attacked Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP lawmakers for voting for the infrastructure bill and handing Biden a major legislative victory that eluded the former president.

As president, Trump talked about the subject so often that “Infrastructure Week” became a running joke and his only proposal included just $200 billion in federal funding with states, localities and private investors coming up with another $1.3 trillion.

The other New Jersey Republican who backed the infrastructure bill, Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd Dist., escaped Trump’s wrath. Van Drew switched parties sitting next to Trump in the Oval Office in December 2019 and was feted by him the following month in Wildwood.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @JDSalant.

Start your day with the latest from Trenton, D.C. and your town. Get the N.J. Politics newsletter now.