State Lawmakers Across the Country Are Ditching the Democrats for the GOP: Report

In multiple states, Democratic legislators are switching their parties to become Republicans, citing the Democratic Party’s left-wing shift and the difficulty to accomplish policy goals, according to several reports.

Since 1994, 173 state legislators have changed their parties mid-term, of which 83 were Democrats who became Republicans, while just 23 shifted the other way, according to research by Politico. Since 2022, at least three legislators in West Virginia, North Carolina and Louisiana, who were elected as Democrats, have joined the Republican benches with significant political consequences.

In West Virginia, first-term state Del. Elliott Pritt became a Republican, joining the House of Delegates’ 88-seat Republican supermajority in a 100-member chamber, according to an announcement reported by West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Pritt attributed his decision to the Democratic Party’s powerlessness in the state legislature and frustration with repeated failures by the party to enact policy.

“I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.”

Georgia Democratic State Rep. @RepVernonJones explains his decision to vote for President Trump in 2020 pic.twitter.com/TfjOTuy5Mg

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 15, 2020

“Even if I were to run again and win, I would look at another term of never getting another bill passed, never getting anything done. For the time I’m going to be there, I’m not going to sit there and be a lame duck and not get anything,” said Pritt in comments reported by Politico. Pritt was preceded by former state Del. Mick Bates, who switched his party affiliation to Republican during the last session of the legislature, in 2021. (Read more from “State Lawmakers Across the Country Are Ditching the Democrats for the GOP: Report” HERE)

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