{"id":2778,"date":"2025-10-04T16:14:05","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T16:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/?p=2778"},"modified":"2025-10-04T16:14:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T16:14:06","slug":"longtime-democrat-lawmaker-flips-joins-republicans-party-left-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/?p=2778","title":{"rendered":"Longtime Democrat Lawmaker Flips, Joins Republicans: \u2018Party Left Me\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the longest-serving Democrats in Kentucky\u2019s state legislature just took the ultimate plunge, switching her party affiliation to Republican after becoming disillusioned with the direction of her former colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State Sen. Robin Webb, who represents Kentucky\u2019s rural 18th district, informed her county clerk that she plans to enroll in the Republican Party in time for next year\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite a bevy of Democrats holding state-level seats, Kentucky is reliably red at the federal level; President Donald Trump collected over 64% of the vote in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, I\u2019m a mother, a rancher and a lawyer with deep personal and professional roots in Kentucky\u2019s coal country,\u201d the former Democrat told Fox News in an interview. \u201cAs the Democratic Party continues its lurch to the left and its hyperfocus on policies that hurt the workforce and economic development in my region, I no longer feel it represents my values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also Read : JUST IN: Trump Admin Declares War On Drug Cartels With Stunning Memo<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has become untenable and counterproductive to the best interests of my constituents for me to remain a Democrat,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile it\u2019s clich\u00e9, it\u2019s true: I didn\u2019t leave the party \u2014 the party left me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 18th Senate district stayed blue in recent years thanks to a partnership between Webb, blue-collar unions, and the coal mining industry, all of whom have been skeptical about GOP-led efforts to trim the size of the federal social safety net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Robert Benvenuti, Chairman of the Republican Party of Kentucky, celebrated the news in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike countless other Kentuckians, [Webb] has recognized that the policies and objectives of today\u2019s Democratic Party are simply not what they once were, and do not align with the vast majority of Kentuckians,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always respected that [Webb] approached issues in a very thoughtful and commonsense manner, and that she never failed to keenly focus on what was best for her constituents,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is my pleasure to welcome Sen. Robin Webb to the Republican Party.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A malicious statement from the Kentucky Democratic Party referred to Webb as \u201cnot a Democrat\u201d during her time in elected office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSenator Webb has chosen to join a political party that is currently working around the clock to take health care away from over a million Kentuckians, wipe out our rural hospitals, take food off the table of Kentucky families, and take resources away from our public schools,\u201d Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge said to Fox News Digital. \u201cIf those are her priorities, then we agree: she isn\u2019t a Democrat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beshear, who has served since 2019, recently told the Daily Beast that he would consider pursuing the Democratic Party\u2019s nomination in 2028. His current term ends in 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you\u2019d asked me a couple of years ago if this is something I\u2019d consider, I probably wouldn\u2019t have. But I don\u2019t want to leave a broken country to my kids. And so, if I\u2019m somebody that can bring this nation together and hopefully find some common ground, it\u2019s something I\u2019ll consider,\u201d he said, Fox News reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the longest-serving Democrats in Kentucky\u2019s state legislature just took the ultimate plunge, switching her party affiliation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2778"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2781,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions\/2781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}