The GOP Loses Seats as Lawmakers Defect from the Party
Donald Trump’s effect on moderate Republicans
By Gabrielle Mackiewicz
The Progressive Teen Staff Writer
Just a few months after the November 2018 elections, several Republicans in state legislature positions have changed their parties to become Democrats, lowering GOP numbers. While their reasons behind switching vary, for many, there is a common denominator: President Trump.
Moderate Republican lawmakers have found that the party has been moving towards a conservative extreme since Trump’s presidential election, according to the Associated Press, and have felt secluded from their own party. Some, instead, have found more in common with the views of their Democratic counterparts both regarding their personal opinions and those of their constituents, causing several legislators to vote across party lines or switch parties completely.
Barbara Bollier, a Kansas State Senator and former moderate Republican, was the first of four recent defectors from her home state. Fed up with opposition to LGBT+ rights, Medicaid expansion, and gun control measures by Republican lawmakers, Bollier’s change came as no surprise for many, as she holds many liberal stances and has expressed her support of other Democratic politicians, including the state’s newly elected Democratic governor Laura Kelly. With this, piled on top of an increasingly extreme GOP under Trump, Bollier was pushed over the edge.
“My moral compass is saying, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’ and you throw that in with Donald Trump, and just from a moral position, I can’t be complicit anymore,” Bollier said in an interview with NBC News.
As moderates feel isolated by the GOP continuing to push further right, the Democratic Party seems increasingly welcoming, exactly what Bollier experienced.
She was soon followed by former State Representative Joy Koesten, whose term has since ended, as well as State Representative Stephanie Clayton and Senator Dinah Sykes, as reported by The Week.
Sykes felt the same isolation as Bollier, who, according to the National Public Radio, said, “You know, if you didn’t vote in lockstep and fall in line you were penalized.”
Opposition to Republican positions left her and the other Kansas female lawmakers feeling like outliers with other GOP members with no hope for change. Exhausted with fighting against her own party, Clayton realized she “really can’t do this anymore,” hitting the breaking point that led her to become a Democrat, as further stated by the NPR.
With Kansas as a notoriously red state, the defections could mean a weakening Republican Party. Even though they are the majority, they are losing seats in legislatures, and the GOP loses support as the party becomes more conservative. This could impact their control over the state, as moderates become fed up.
Another Republican lawmaker to switch to the Democratic Party was California State Assemblyman Brian Maienschein, as reported by NBC San Diego. In a press release, Maienschein cited his clashing views with the current Republican Party, saying “I can either keep fighting to change the Republican Party or I can fight for my constituents.”
“Donald Trump has led the Republican Party to the extreme on issues that divide our country, but his leadership is not the lone reason for my change in party affiliation. I too have changed,” he says. “As the Republican Party has drifted further right, I — and my votes — have changed.”
His change granted Democrats a super majority in the State Assembly, giving the party a lot more control.
New Jersey State Senator Dawn Marie Addiego cited similar dissatisfaction with the GOP after she announced she would be becoming a Democrat, making the blue state even more blue and bringing the Republican Party to its lowest number in decades in the state. In disagreement over tax and oil drilling policies by the National Republican Party, Addiego felt her views clashed with the those of the modern GOP.
“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, according to NJ.com.
Her change reflects the views of the majority of New Jersey residents, with the state being dominated by Democrats and holding a common disdain for Trump. Addiego’s defection only strengthens the already powerful Democratic Party.
The Republican Party has been driven to one end of an extreme under Trump and is pushing out many legislators that are more moderate. Many are left acting against their own party causing the recent defections. While reinforcing Democratic numbers in some states and hurting GOP strongholds in others, lawmakers’ defections prove a sour image for Republicans.
