California Democratic State Senator Switches to GOP: ‘Not the Party I Signed Up For’

California State Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil announced her decision to leave the Democratic Party and join the GOP.

“Since my first day in office, I have put the interests of my constituents first. I was elected to serve the public, not a political ideology,” stated Alvarado-Gil. “The status quo under a supermajority Democratic rule in the legislature is simply not working for this state. It is after deep reflection I announce that I will be joining the Senate Republican Caucus and the California Republican Party in their fight to fix California.”

Alvarado-Gil has always been a moderate, voting with Republicans on many issues. District 4, which she represents, is a conservative-leaning district.

The district includes “Placer, El Dorado, Amador, Alpine, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Stanislaus, Madera, Merced, Mono, Nevada and Inyo counties.”

Democrats have the supermajority in both chambers. Alvarado-Gil gives the GOP nine votes in the Senate.

Alvardo-Gil has always been a Democrat but hates what it has become.

“It was the right thing to do,” she explained. “I’ve been a Democrat my whole adult life. … The Democratic Party of today is not the Democratic Party that I signed up with as a new voter. The pendulum has swung so far to the left that it has disengaged from what true Californians value.”

Alavardo-Gil holds fiscally conservative views but leans left with social issues such as abortion.

State Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire snarked, “One silver lining is MAGA Republicans are gaining a pro-choice, pro-LGBTQ+ rights, anti-Trump colleague. We wish her the best of luck.”

Always have to bring up Trump and MAGA. So deranged.

Alvardo-Gil told Marcos Bretón of The Sacramento Bee, “the last straw was the Proposition 47 shenanigans, the ‘poison pill’ amendments.”

Leslie documented the fiasco around Prop 47, which weakened the penalties for property crimes.

From the interview:

A law-and-order package of bills, including from Alvarado-Gil, were hijacked and loaded with amendments — ‘poison pills’ — that would have killed the bills if voters passed a Prop. 47 reform initiative in November.“The governor was very aggressive to get the Democrats to fall in line,” she said. “I was one of the few that said I would not fall in line. I was vocal about it…So I sat with that for a little while. The consideration of separating myself from the majority party, their tactics and a misalignment of our values has been percolating for some time.”

Alvarado-Gil also couldn’t believe it when Democrats lectured her on discrimination regarding law-and-order legislation.

Her parents are Mexican immigrants. She was once a single mom:

“I would get asked, ‘How can you side with the DA’s? This is going to put more Black and brown people in jail.’ I don’t tend to follow the race train. I’m looking at society as a whole. I also understand that if we don’t hold people accountable for their actions. There is a domino effect. Not only in our prisons system, our education system, our economic system, our housing system and whether or not Californians see themselves as part of communities or they are packing their bags and leaving.”

What a toxic environment.

Tags: California, California Legislature, Democrats, Republicans

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