Press Releases

Congressman Jefferson Van Drew issued the following statement regarding New York City’s Mayor, Bill De Blasio, attempt to rewrite our nation’s history. Mayor De Blasio appointed a panel that is set to consider the removal of a Thomas Jefferson statue that has sat in the City Council chambers in New York City for over 200 years. The vote will be held on Monday, October 18th. 

“Thomas Jefferson was a man of nearly unequivocal importance to our nation,” said Congressman Jeff Van Drew. “A statesmen, a scholar, and a founding father to the United States of America, the life and legacy of Thomas Jefferson is synonymous with the history of us, the American people.

For a small group appointed directly by Mayor De Blasio to single handedly decide to remove this legacy from the city council building of New York City is nothing short of a national disgrace. Weighing the negatives of a man’s personal life by today’s impossible standards, without taking into consideration the ever lasting impact he had on forming the freest and most powerful nation this world has ever seen, is a disservice to all alive today and all who will come tomorrow. 

Jefferson is my namesake that my parents gave me. It is my son’s namesake that I passed down to him. It is the namesake of counties in more than 22 states, and the name Jefferson sits prominently signed on our Declaration of Independence. Are we to remove these next as well? Will I be forced to change my name? My son’s name? I implore the mayor of New York City to reject this heinous attack on our nation’s history and leave standing the statue of this pillar of our democracy. The American people have had enough; I have had enough.”