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| Pennsylvania Lawmaker Leaves Increasingly ‘Purist’ Democrat Party, Will Caucus With Republicans |
| 2019-11-23 |
| [DAILYWIRE] Pennsylvania State Senator John Yudichak announced on Tuesday that he will be switching his political affiliation from Democrat to Independent due to a disconnect with an increasingly leftward-moving party. "As an Independent, I will continue to put people above politics," Yudichak said in a blurb. "I will continue to support Democratic ideas as well as Republican ideas when it is clear that they serve the greater good and help government work for people rather than the narrow interests of partisan ’purists.'" The state politician has represented Pennsylvania’s 14th senatorial district for three terms and is not up for re-election until 2022. Yudichak suggested that leaving the party is the only way he can faithfully serve his district, which covers the northeastern part of the state and includes Carbon, Luzerne, and Monroe Counties. "From an administrative standpoint if there was an independent caucus I’d be in the independent caucus but there were only two. That’s something that I’m trying to change," Yudichak said over Twitter. "I’d like to change the conversation where we get out of this idea that it’s us vs them. I think it’s a false choice for Pennsylvanians, I think it’s a false choice for Americans." Pennsylvania Democrats were able to flip five State Senate seats blue during the 2018 election cycle, which reportedly pulled the party even further to the left. Yudichak’s decision to leave the party will make him the commonwealth’s sole Independent state senator and brings the minority caucus from 22 seats to 21; Republicans currently control 27 seats, with one vacant seat in a solidly red district scheduled to be filled in January through a special election. |
| Posted by:Fred |