In yet another bit of bad news for the Democrats at both the state and national levels, a state Democratic senator in Kentucky, Sen. Robin Webb of the state’s rural 18th senate district, announced that she is switching parties and joining up with the Republicans because the Democrats have gone way too far to the left.
For reference, the news is bad news for the Democratic Party on multiple levels. On one hand, it shows continuing dissatisfaction with and lack of faith in the party from both its politicians and its voters, as a recently elected senator with a rural base switched parties. On the other hand, Sen. Webb’s party switch weakens the Democratic Party’s already tenuous hold on the state, which has a Democratic governor but is increasingly leaning red for cultural reasons.
In any case, Sen. Webb explained that she switched sides because, as a professional and a rancher from coal country, she feels a deep connection to the people of her state and wants her political party to represent her values and the values of her constituents. She began, Fox News Digital reports, “First and foremost, I’m a mother, a rancher and a lawyer with deep personal and professional roots in Kentucky’s coal country.”
Continuing, she explained that the party’s continual lurch to the left has left her concerned and dissatisfied, saying, “As the Democratic Party continues its lurch to the left and its hyperfocus on policies that hurt workforce and economic development in my region, I no longer feel it represents my values.”
Adding to that, she explained that she can’t remain a Democrat because doing so would be against the best interests of her constituents, whatever party they might be in, saying, “It has become untenable and counterproductive to the best interests of my constituents for me to remain a Democrat.”
Commenting on her decision to leave the Democratic Party, Republican Party of Kentucky Chairman Robert Benvenuti agreed that the Democratic Party’s values have changed substantially and so no longer align with Kentuckians, who once supported the party quite heavily as coal country workers.
He said, noting as much about the new Democratic Party’s objectives, Fox News Digital reports, “Like countless other Kentuckians, [Webb] has recognized that the policies and objectives of today’s Democratic Party are simply not what they once were, and do not align with the vast majority of Kentuckians.”
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Further, he welcomed the state senator to the Republican Party by saying that he respects her and thinks she addresses issues well, saying, “I always respected that [Webb] approached issues in a very thoughtful and commonsense manner, and that she never failed to keenly focus on what was best for her constituents. It is my pleasure to welcome Sen. Robin Webb to the Republican Party.”
On the other side of things, Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge angrily said, Fox News Digital reports, “Senator Webb has chosen to join a political party that is currently working around the clock to take health care away from over a million Kentuckians, wipe out our rural hospitals, take food off the table of Kentucky families and take resources away from our public schools. If those are her priorities, then we agree: she isn’t a Democrat.”
Watch McCarthy explain the civil war brewing in the Democratic Party here: