A Colorado state senator introduced on Monday that he has left the Republican Celebration to grow to be a Democrat, citing the GOP’s efforts to hawk election conspiracy theories and block more and more obligatory local weather laws.
State Sen. Kevin Priola launched a letter through which he introduced he would start caucusing with Democrats as an alternative of Republicans, although he harassed that he wouldn’t be altering the way in which he votes on laws. The previous Republican, who was elected as a state senator in 2016 and reelected in 2020, added that he believes political affiliations have grow to be “too tribal” and that neither get together “has a monopoly on the reality.”
“I acknowledge that we’re within the midst of an election that can decide which get together controls the Senate Chamber. Even when there’ll proceed to be points that I disagree with the Democratic Celebration on, there’s an excessive amount of at stake proper now for Republicans to be in cost,” Priola wrote. “Coloradans can not afford for his or her leaders to present credence to election conspiracies and local weather denialism. Merely put, we’d like Democrats in cost as a result of our planet and our democracy depend upon it.”
Priola expressed dismay that the Republican Celebration has modified from the one he joined in 1990. The brand new Democrat detailed how the Jan. 6, 2021, revolt on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump’s followers left him horrified and hoping that his get together would distance itself from the previous president.
“Week after week and month after month, I waited for that response; it by no means got here,” he wrote. “To my dismay, courageous and honorable Republicans like Mike Pence, Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney, and Adam Kinzinger have fought to defend the Structure and rule of legislation solely to be met with ridicule and threats. Concern-mongering to lift cash or inspire voters is nothing new, but it surely has been taken to a harmful and destabilizing degree.”
“I can not proceed to be part of a political get together that’s okay with a violent try to overturn a free and truthful election and continues to hawk claims that the 2020 election was stolen.”
The state senator additionally mentioned he “can’t, in good conscience, be silent about” Republicans’ refusal to deal with the pressing difficulty of local weather change, saying they “constantly, and proudly, search to impede progress on any affordable local weather measure the legislature has undertaken.”
“With a close to year-round wildfire season right here in Colorado and seemingly by no means ending drought already upon us, Coloradans are already feeling the results of the local weather disaster, and I consider it’s immoral to saddle the following era of Coloradans with even worse impacts,” he wrote.
Joe Amon/MediaNews Group/The Denver Submit by way of Getty Pictures
Colorado Democrats welcomed the brand new get together member, with Senate President Steve Fenberg saying Priola “selected his constituents and Colorado’s future over conspiracy theories and lies.” State Senate Minority Chief John Cooke, a Republican, instructed HuffPost that Priola’s determination “won’t change the trajectory of this election cycle, nor the end result of the yr’s struggle for the state Senate.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t be stunned by Sen. Priola’s announcement as we speak that he’s now a Democrat. For the final a number of classes he voted with the Democrats and championed their legislative causes,” Cooke mentioned, including that the previous Republican’s district “will seemingly not be glad” with him and “could discover their choices for brand new illustration.”
Whereas Priola isn’t up for reelection this yr, his get together change signifies that Democrats now outnumber Republicans 21-14 within the Colorado Senate — making it tougher for the GOP to realize management of the state Capitol within the November election. In keeping with the Colorado Solar, seven of the 15 state Senate seats up for election in a number of months are tossups, whereas three are solidly Democratic and 5 solidly Republican.
Priola has usually voted with Democrats on points like local weather change and tax reform, although he maintains that he nonetheless holds strongly conservative views on some points, together with abortion and gun management. He joins a rising record of extra average Republicans — like Cheney (Wyo.) and Kinzinger (Sick.) — who discover themselves now not included in a celebration publicly aligning itself with extremist views and candidates.
