A moderate California Democrat announced Thursday he was switching to the Republican Party, criticizing his former party's leadership and policies.
State Sen. Marie Alvarado Gil, R-Jackson, said she has been a Democrat for a long time, but since being elected in 2022, she said her values and those of the Democratic Party are no longer the same.
“During the last two years that I've served as a senator, I have not recognized which party I belong to,” Alvarado-Gil said in an announcement on “The Steve Hilton Show,” a YouTube series hosted by the former Fox News host and policy adviser to former British Prime Minister David Cameron. “The Democratic Party is not the party that I joined decades ago.”
Alvarado Gil, who represents a mostly rural district in the northeast Central Valley, said Democratic policies are hurting California's middle class and children and leading the state in the wrong direction.
“You know, the decision to leave a supermajority party that has far more power and capabilities is not very popular,” she said.
She added: “But this is the right decision for the voters who elected me.”
Alvarado Gil is known for her tough-on-crime and fiscally conservative views, and has voted with Republicans on labor bills.
“It takes courage to stand up to California's supermajorities, and Marie has it,” Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones (R-Santee) said in a statement. “Her track record of fighting crime, protecting our communities from sexually violent predators, and putting her constituents first speaks for itself.”
The change would give Republicans nine seats in the 40-seat Senate, still far short of the majority needed to control the chamber. Democrats hold supermajorities in both the House and Senate.
State Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Maguire, a Democrat, said her decision was “disappointing to the voters” who elected her in 2022.
“They trusted her to represent them and she betrayed that trust,” he said in a statement.
He added: “The one bright spot is that the MAGA Republicans have gained a pro-abortion, pro-LGBTQ+ rights, anti-Trump colleague. I wish her the best.”
Alvarado Gil, who represents a conservative-leaning district, defeated a progressive Democratic candidate by more than five points in the 2022 election and six Republican candidates in the primary to win. His district has become slightly more Republican since 2022, with about 39% of registered voters being Republican and 34% being Democrats in 2024.
Alvarado Hill will run for re-election in 2026.
Alex Vassar, a legislative historian at the California State Library, said that while 273 members of the California legislature have switched parties while in office, it's even rarer for a majority party member to move to another party. The most recent example was former state Assemblyman Dominic Cortese, who left the Democratic Party in 1995 to run for the Senate. Ross Perot's Reform Party.
In 2019, San Diego Assemblyman Brian Maienschein left the Republican Party to become a Democrat and former Republican Assembly leader. Chad Mays left the party Become independent.
Nguyen is a contributor to The Associated Press.
