An Oregon lawmaker elected as a Republican has abandoned the party and announced that he will seek reelection as a Democrat. State Rep. Cyrus Javadi, who represents Oregon’s 32nd House District, accused his former party of obstructing the legislative process and caring more about “burning things down” than governing. His decision gives Democrats an even larger majority in a state legislature they already control.
Javadi is a dentist from Tillamook who entered the legislature as a Republican but increasingly broke with members of his party during the latest legislative session. He announced the switch in a Substack post and confirmed that he plans to run for another term under the Democratic Party’s banner. With Javadi’s departure, Democrats hold 37 of the Oregon House of Representatives’ 60 seats.
The party switch followed several votes that angered Republican lawmakers and activists in Oregon. Javadi supported a resolution honoring black drag performers and later became the only Republican to support legislation restricting what the bill’s supporters characterized as discriminatory book bans. Democratic Governor Tina Kotek subsequently signed that legislation into law.
As Them reported, Javadi’s voting record also prompted a recall effort organized by one of his former supporters. Javadi wrote that a window at his dental clinic was smashed after he returned to work, although the article did not identify a suspect or establish a motive for the damage. He described the incident and the political anger directed toward him as confirmation that he could no longer remain in the Republican Party.
Javadi accused the Oregon GOP of demanding total opposition to Democratic legislation regardless of the merits of an individual proposal. He summarized the message as “just vote no, or else,” while arguing that many individual Republicans still shared his values. According to Javadi, the problem was the party organization, which he accused of pursuing political opportunities by isolating minority communities.
He also declared that he had “had enough” of what he called “politics as performance art.” Javadi specifically defended his vote for the school-library legislation by pointing to his gay son and arguing that children should be able to find books involving people with sexualities similar to their own. Republicans opposing such measures have generally focused on sexually explicit material in schools, but Javadi argued that existing procedures already allowed parents to challenge individual books.
Despite joining the Democratic Party, Javadi insisted that his underlying political beliefs had not suddenly changed. He said he remained “the same person I’ve always been” and denied that the move resulted from adopting the ideology of national Democratic media figures. His previous record includes several positions that remain far outside the mainstream of Oregon’s dominant Democratic Party.
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Javadi previously voted with Republicans to recriminalize drug possession after Oregon’s experiment with decriminalization produced intense public backlash. Nearly 2,600 people were reportedly arrested solely for drug possession during the year following the policy reversal. His support for that measure placed him alongside Republicans and other lawmakers seeking to restore penalties for possession in the state.
The newly minted Democrat has also maintained an anti-abortion record. Javadi celebrated the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade and, in 2024, sponsored an unsuccessful bill that would have restricted abortions after 15 weeks. A Democratic voter who had previously criticized Javadi’s abortion position told the Oregon Capital Chronicle that she had developed greater trust in him but would consider supporting him only if he changed that position.
Watch another RINO announce his decision to ditch the GOP and join the Democrats: