Dems Are Switching Parties in Droves

If it were just one or two stories, I wouldn’t think much. Pols that never quite fit in in the first place, finally leave their party – it happens  – jumping Jeff Jeffords, Joe Lieberman, and Arlen Specter come to mind.

But what we’re seeing here in the age of Obama – is something else altogether. He was supposed to stop the rise of the oceans but it looks like he’s stopping the rise of the Democrat party.

Am I exaggerating? Just look at all these recent defections – I think I detect a pattern, here.

PA:

The Daily Caller: Citing Catholic faith, Democrat switches parties:

The defection of a prominent Pennsylvania Democrat to the Republican Party is raising some eyebrows.

Jo Ann Nardelli, a state committeewoman and founding president of the Blair County Federation of Democratic Women, has switched her political affiliation to the GOP, citing her Catholic faith and President Obama’s embrace of gay marriage as reasons.

During a press conference last week, Nardelli cited President Obama’s recent announcement in support of gay marriage as a central reason for her defection, endorsed Mitt Romney for president and changed her party registration to Republican,

VA:
This one must hurt:

Newsbusters: Psst, Don’t Tell Anyone: Four-term Former Congressman and Obama 2008 Co-Chair Artur Davis Announces That He’s a Republican:

Former Ala. congressman Artur Davis shifts voter registration to Va.; eyes bid as Republican

Former Alabama congressman Artur Davis is shifting his voter registration to Virginia and says that if he seeks public office again, it will be as a Republican.

Davis, who represented Birmingham in Congress for four terms and then unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Alabama governor in 2010, announced his decision on his website.

He wrote that people whose judgment he values have asked him to consider running for Congress in northern Virginia in 2014 or 2016 or for that state’s General Assembly in 2015.

“The short of it is: I don’t know and am nowhere near deciding. If I were to run, it would be as a Republican,” wrote Davis, who moved to Virginia in late 2010 to join a Washington law firm, then left to become a fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics.

A Harvard-educated lawyer, Davis was a House member two years ago when he tried to become the first black governor elected in Alabama. He started out leading in the polls for the 2010 Democratic primary, but then voted against President Barrack Obama’s federal health care overhaul and decided not to seek the endorsement of black political groups. Former Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks picked up those endorsements and won with 62 percent of the vote.

Artur Davis noted on his website, “I am in the process of changing my voter registration from Alabama to Virginia, a development which likely does represent a closing of one chapter and perhaps the opening of another.”

TX:

The Texas Tribune: Rep. J.M. Lozano Confirms Plans to Switch to GOP:

State House Rep. J.M. Lozano, D-Kingsville, will announce this week that he will join the Republican Party. He said that his decision is based, in part, on the new makeup of his district, whose constituents he said are in line with Republican values.

“It’s been a long weekend,” said Lozano, who was first elected in 2010. “Basically, I was sad to lose the counties I did, but at the same time it was very fortunate to pick up Jim Wells, San Patricio and Bee counties.

“I had a conservative voting record this session, which was pro-life, pro-oil and gas development, and pro-small-business. And I am a small-business owner,” he said. “Those values and these voters are in line with the Republican Party.”

NC:

Libertarian Republican: North Carolina Mayor switches from Democrat to Republican:

First fall-out from recent NC Democrat Gay Sex Scandal?

From Eric Dondero:

The North Carolina Democrat Party has been in the news the last couple weeks for a growing scandal involving the former Democrat Party Executive Director and the State Chair.

E.D. Jay Palmry was accused of sexual harrassment of a junior employee, a male Hispanic communications director.  Graphic details were released two days ago, including Palmry simulating oral sex to the employee and grabbing his crotch, while making suggestive remarks.  Democrat Governor Bev Purdue has since called for State Chair David Parker to resign, citing the scandal as a great distraction to NC Dem efforts to progress on a variety of issues.

Now, the Mayor of Kings Mountain, NC has announced that he and his wife have switched parties to the GOP.  Rick Murphrey told the Shelby Star, that he has been a registered Democrat since his 18th birthday.

MS:

Clarion Ledger: 7 local elected officials switch to GOP:

A sheriff in central Mississippi said Wednesday he’s switching from Democrat to Republican because of President Barack Obama’s support of same-sex marriage.

***

State Republican Party chairman Joe Nosef announced during the news conference that Waggoner and Newton County Sheriff Jackie Knight are among seven local officials switching to the GOP. The others were a Justice Court judge and a constable from Jones County and the coroner, a supervisor and a Justice Court judge from Leake County.

AL:

Tuscaloosa News: Ala. Rep. Alan Harper switches to Republican Party

TUSCALOOSA | State Rep. Alan Harper of Aliceville is switching to the Republican Party.

Harper, who was selected Monday night to be Northport’s economic development director, has been a Democrat throughout his time in the Legislature. He was first elected to represent District 61 in the House in 2006 and was re-elected in 2010.

“This is a decision that has taken many months of deliberation and thought,” Harper said. “In the end, I made the decision because it is best for District 61. I was elected to serve my district to the best of my ability and this decision reflects that.”

GA:

Georgia Tipsheet: Georgia Democrats hemorrhaging rural pols in ballot qualifying:

Fomenting a political trend long in the works, rural Georgia Democrats are defecting wholesale their one-time Dixie powerhouse in this week’s ballot qualifications. Bleckley County’s partisan pols have near-unanimously filed for reelection Wednesday as Republicans. All countywide Democratic elected officials officials save for surveyor have broken rank with the party.

Their names and offices listed at the link.

Georgia Tipsheet: Three Democratic DA’s file for reelection under GOP banner:

Ballot qualifying has produced at least three party defections for Georgia Democrats.

Democratic District Attorneys Cathy Helms, Bob Lavender and Paul Bowden have all filed for reelection as Republicans, according to qualifying reports from the Secretary of State’s office.

UPDATE: Today’s bloodletting continues for rural Peach State Democrats. A host of local officials have jumped parties in Franklin, Hart and Stephens counties, boosting today’s defection rate to at least 10.

At GA Political Review, a pundit asks,  Is Georgia’s Democratic Party Dying?

From the election of James M. Smith in 1872 until the failed re-election campaign of Roy Barnes in 2002, Georgia had a Democrat in the Governor’s Mansion (three mansions, in fact). Democrats controlled both houses of the General Assembly from 1891 to 2003, and the state swung for the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate consistently from 1868 until 1960. During this time, Democratic primaries generally decided who ultimately won elections, as the Democratic nominees rarely if ever faced quality challengers from another party.

Following this long reign, the Democratic Party began slipping – slowly at first, but eventually snowballing. Now it is easy to forget that the Republican stronghold of Georgia was not long ago considered a Democratic base. Despite this, President Barack Obama’s campaign is determined to make Georgia a battleground state in hopes of winning Georgia’s first Democratic victory in a presidential election since 1992.

Are the odds stacked against a Democratic resurgence in the state in 2012? Does the Republican Party have as strong a hold on the state of Georgia as the Democrats once had? Most importantly, is the Democratic Party of Georgia dying?

For more on the sad state of affairs for Dems in Georgia, see GaPundit: Georgia Politics, Campaigns, Elections, for May 31, 2012.

Keep in mind, I haven’t done an exhaustive state by state search for party defections – these are just the ones that jumped out at me.

Is anything similar happening on the Republican side? A Google search brings up very few examples like  City Councilman in Queens, NY switching to Democrat, last January:

Peter Koo, one of only five Republicans on the 51-member City Council, is set to announce early next week that he will switch parties to become a Democrat, according to people briefed on the decision.

It’s not happening on a large scale in the Republican party like it is in the Democrat party.

No doubt the Blue Dogs who are leaving the party feel more like the party left them. In a way, they’re right. The Democrat Party has been morphing into the Democrat Socialists of America for many years, now. Under Obama, the transformation appears to be complete.

Linked by Hyscience, and Truth Before Dishonor, and Small Dead Animals, thanks!