A moderate California Democratic senator announced yesterday that she is defecting to the US Republican Party, as at the same time, he criticized the leadership and policies of his former party, the Associated Press reported, BTA reported.
Legislator Marie Alvarado-Hill said she has long been a Democrat, but she and the Democratic Party no longer share the same values since she was elected in 2022. “In the last two years since I have been in the Senate, I have not recognized the party , which I belong to,” Alvarado-Hill said in an announcement on “The Steve Hilton Show,”, a YouTube series hosted by the conservative political commentator. “The Democratic Party is not the party I signed up for decades ago.
Alvarado-Hill is a predominantly rural area northeast of California's Central Valley. She said the Democratic Party's policies are hurting California's middle class and children and are pushing the state in the wrong direction. “It is not a very well-received decision to leave a party with a super majority where perhaps you have much more power and opportunities,” said the senator.
However, Alvarado-Hill adds that: “This is a decision that is right for the voters who elected me to office.“
She is known for her support of a tough-on-crime and fiscally conservative stance, and has supported Republicans on labor legislation votes. “It takes courage to stand up to the supermajority in California, and Marie has the qualities needed,”, Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones said in a statement. “Her track record in tackling crime, protecting communities from sexual predators and prioritizing her constituents speaks volumes.“
Her defection gives Republicans nine votes in the 40-member Senate, still well short of the majority they need to control the chamber. Democrats have supermajorities in both the lower house and the Senate. State Senate President Mike McGuire said her decision was “disappointing to the voters“ who elected her in 2022.
In the entire history of California, there have been 273 legislators who changed political power during their term. It's even more rare for a member of the majority party to switch to the minority party, said California State Library legislative historian Alex Vassar. The most recent example was in 1995, when former congressman Dominic Cortese left the Democratic Party to join Ross Perot's Reform Party.