A fed-up California Democratic state senator has revealed she is jumping ship to the Republican Party because her now-former party has become unrecognizable under its current leadership and policies.
State Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil, a longtime Democrat, broke news of her defection late Thursday, saying the values she shared with the Democratic Party when she was elected in 2022 have now shifted.
“In the past two years that I’ve been working in the Senate, I have not recognized the party that I belong to,” the lawmaker said during an appearance on Fox News.
“The Democratic Party is not the party that I signed up for decades ago.”
“I can’t, in good conscious with the values that I have and my commitment to represent the voters of California, continue to call myself a Democrat,” she added.
Alvarado-Gil — who reps a largely rural district northeast of the Central Valley — said, without elaborating, that lefty policies in the state under Gov. Gavin Newsom were hurting the middle class and children in California.
“I was elected to serve the public, not a political ideology,” the lawmaker said in a follow-up statement about her decision.
“The status quo under a supermajority Democratic rule in the legislature is simply not working for this state.”
Alvarado-Gil, who was considered a moderate Dem prior to her deflection, is known for her support of the tough-on-crime approach, a fiscally conservative outlook and has previously voted with the GOP on labor legislation.
“It takes courage to stand up to the supermajority in California and Marie has what it takes,” Republican Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones said in a statement.
“Her record on tackling crime, protecting communities from sexually violent predators, and prioritizing her constituents speaks for itself.”
Her switch gives the GOP nine votes in the 40-member Senate.
Alvarado-Gil, whose district is conservative-leaning, won the 2022 election by more than 5 points after facing off against a progressive Democrat.
She and her Dem rival beat out six Republican candidates in the primary.
Her district has become slightly more right-leaning since the last election, with Republicans having nearly 39% of registered voters compared to 34% of Democrats in 2024.
Alvarado-Gil isn’t up for reelection until 2026.
She joins a long list of Democratic lawmakers across the country who have jumped ship in recent years.
Louisiana state Rep. Jeremy LaCombe and North Carolina state Rep. Tricia Cotham both made headlines when they each abandoned the left and registered as Republicans last year.
Sen. Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, also left the Democratic Party earlier this year — but registered as an independent — as bashed “partisan extremism” and declared that “national politics are broken.”
With Post wires
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