A longtime former California Democratic legislative leader announced Wednesday she no longer “recognize[s her] party,” while noting she still considers many of its historical figures, including former President John F. Kennedy, her “heroes.”
Gloria Romero, who served as the state Senate majority leader for three years of her more than 10-year stint in Sacramento, slammed the current state of her former party.
Romero said she had been a delegate to the Democratic National Convention for both Jesse Jackson and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., adding that many Latinos and Latinas are leaving the party for similar reasons.
“Today, I say ‘Goodbye – adios’ — I’ve had enough,” the former San Gabriel Valley lawmaker said in her announcement.
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Former California State Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
“I am now another near-lifelong Democrat who is joining the growing number of people … who are leaving the Democratic Party.
“Today, I join the Republican Party to make America great again, and I am ready to do my part as America prepares to vote,” Romero said, adding she has received a warm reception from her onetime political opposition.
She claimed she could not stand by as Democrats took “a giant leap to authoritarianism [and] censorship,” noting former President Reagan warned that if fascism rose in the U.S. it would come under the guise of liberalism.
“It is terrifying to see how language has been modified so that, as a feminist and a former professor … I would be condemned for saying that I can define a woman and distinguish between biological sex and gender identity,” Romero said.
“While I am pro-choice, I will not support a party that advocates for abortion to full term. I am a mother and refuse to call myself a ‘birthing person.'”
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Former President Trump, the Republican presidential candidate (Peter Zay/AFP via Getty Images)
“The Republican Party has become the party of peace while the Democrats have marched towards endless war.”
She also took aim at the Green movement within the Democratic Party, voicing opposition to regulations on appliances.
“[A]s a Latina, I will not give up my gas stove; you cannot toast a tortilla on an electric range,” she quipped.
Standing on the steps of the State Capitol in Sacramento, Romero said she officially aligns with the GOP under former President Trump, who she said is the true champion of working people and the Reaganesque “big tent.”
“I will vote for Donald Trump this fall,” she said.
Asked about Romero’s move, Los Angeles Democratic officials dismissed her official announcement as “old news.”
“We knew then about Gloria what California Republicans know best: the grift is real,” Mark Gonzalez, the former chairman of the county party, told the Los Angeles Daily News.
Another former party staffer said on X, formerly Twitter, the GOP is “drudg[ing] up old news to stay relevant.”
State Sen. Brian W. Jones, R-San Diego, the top Republican in the state chamber, welcomed Romero to the party, saying in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital that Romero had unsuccessfully tried to “wake up” her former party to its leftward shift.
“Her leadership and experience have always been about serving the people, not partisan politics. It takes real courage to step away from the party you’ve led and stand for what is right,” Jones said.
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The California Capitol July 17, 2022, in Sacramento, Calif. (Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
“The pendulum is swinging in California — Sky-high prices, increasing crime, and record homelessness are the direct results of a broken government…”
Current state Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil of Jackson also switched to the GOP in early August.
At the time, Alvarado-Gil said her former party is also “unrecognizable” and “lacks the will to fix the problems plaguing the state.”