Gloria Romero was first elected as a Democrat to the California Assembly from the Los Angeles area in 1998. She served there for two and a half years and then switched to the state senate in 2001, where she served, as a Democrat, until 2010 when she was term-limited out.
She was the majority leader from 2005 – 2008. She's been teaching college since then, but on Wednesday she made a change.
“I am now another near lifelong Democrat who is joining the growing number of people, including key groups like Latinos, who are leaving the Democratic Party,” Romero said.
As with many of those before her, she says she did not leave the Democrat Party, the Democrat Party left her.
She expressed concerns for war, censorship and authoritarianism in a Fox News interview.
“This is not the Democratic Party that I once championed. I do not recognize it anymore, and I cannot continue,” Romero said.
She’s just crossing the aisle in politics, she's moving light years from where the Democrats are today.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, has said she’ll rebuild middle-class America, but Romero says Donald Trump is better suited for that task.
Making the change early
“I changed my voting registration today as the sun was rising to Republican, which has, under Donald Trump, become the champion of working people, and indeed, I will vote for Donald Trump this fall,” Romero said.
California hasn't voted Republican in a Presidential election since George H.W. Bush won the state in 1988.
There are currently twice as many Democrats in California as Republicans. The Assembly has 62 Democrats and only 17 Republicans, and in the Senate, Democrats lead Republicans 31 to 9.
But Brad Dacus of Pacific Justice Institute says it might not happen in the next election or two, but there is a growing number of Gloria Romero's in the Golden State.
“If they do not change their extreme leftist ideology, California could easily become a purple state,” Dacus told AFN.
