TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Democrats’ gains in state legislatures didn’t end with last November’s elections.
Over the past two months, as lawmakers were sworn in and this year’s statehouse sessions got underway, Republicans in California, Kansas and New Jersey switched their party affiliations to become Democrats.
They cited various reasons, but the party-switchers have one thing in common: They say the GOP under President Donald Trump has become too extreme.
“The Republican Party, for all of its statements of having a big tent, continues to limit the tent,” said Kansas state Sen. Barbara Bollier, of Mission Hills, one of the switchers. “Those of us who were moderates are clearly not welcome.”
Bollier was one of four moderate Republicans from the Kansas City suburbs to switch parties.
The latest party-flip came this week in New Jersey. Republican state Sen. Dawn Marie Addiego, who represented a suburban Philadelphia district in southern New Jersey for nearly a decade, left the GOP, the minority party in both houses of the Legislature.
She cited the desire to “be a part of the discussion” in the Democratic majority but also hinted that the national Republican Party is no longer recognizable.
“My core values that originally drew me to the Republican Party have not changed, but the party which once echoed the vision of Ronald Reagan no longer exists,” she said in a statement announcing the change.
Her announcement came just days after California Assemblyman Brian Maienschein, who represents San Diego, left the GOP. He said he differs with his former party on immigration, health care, gun control, abortion and gay rights.
The defections come after the Democratic Party won control of the U.S. House in the midterm elections and gained seats in 62 of the 99 state legislative chambers, according to data provided by the National Conference of State Legislatures (Nebraska is the only state with a single legislative chamber).
They also come at a time when the president’s approval ratings are dipping.
“This is largely a product of the Trump phenomenon,” said Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “President Trump has blown the lid off of this party. It starts to look like a personality cult.”
In Democratic-leaning states such as California and New Jersey, the defections add to the GOP’s challenges.
Click the link to read remaining content: https://www.apnews.com/9a6871b08ad14f06b035102604eee6c8
