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The Georgia State Capitol constructing in Atlanta on November 9, 2022. | Supply: SETH HERALD / Getty
A Black lady lawmaker in Georgia who just lately left the Democratic Get together to change into a Republican is being criticized for her defection and accused of abandoning her constituents who elected her into workplace.
State Rep. Mesha Mainor, whose district is comprised of elements of Atlanta, earlier this week introduced that she could be switching political allegiances primarily due to her stance on faculty vouchers, which compelled Republicans to assist her whereas her then-fellow Democrats didn’t.
Mainor, 48, made the announcement on Tuesday whereas, the Related Press reported.
“I believed it was OK to not agree with these issues as a Democrat,” Mainro stated. “However they informed me, ‘ what, these are values we simply don’t have.’”
Mainor later supplied a extra detailed rationalization for the motivation behind switching political events in the midst of her time period and stated the subject of race partly influenced her determination. She urged Democrats don’t have Black folks’s greatest pursuits at coronary heart.
“As a lawmaker for the previous three years, I understand extra every day that the ideas of Democrats will not be all the time aligned with these of black folks,” Mainor wrote in an open letter earlier than persevering with later: “I’m asking black People to ask themselves, ‘What has a Democrat completed for you latterly?’”
The transfer wasn’t greeted warmly by Democrats in Georgia.
U.S. Congresswoman Nikema Williams, the chief of Georgia Democrats who succeeded the late Rep. John Lewis on Capitol Hill, stated Mainor’s change of political affiliation was a “stinging betrayal” to residents who voted for her.
“Home District 56 deserves a consultant who will do the job they had been elected to do, together with battle for high-quality public training,” Williams added in a press release.
The Related Press summed up what led to Mainor changing into a Republican:
The strain between Mainor and different Democrats burst into the open earlier this yr after Mainor grew to become the one Democrat to vote for a college voucher invoice that failed after a variety of Home Republicans broke ranks to oppose it. College selection has all the time had some assist amongst city Black Democrats, however Mainor’s fellow get together members reacted with scorn at the same time as Republicans rallied to Mainor’s assist. State Sen. Josh McLaurin, an Atlanta Democrat, posted an image of a $1,000 examine on-line for a major challenger, writing “All I would like is a reputation.”
Mainor is constructed the newest Black Democrat in Georgia to maneuver on to the Republican Get together.
Again in 2020, Vernon Jones was a Democratic state consultant who shocked his constituents by saying his endorsement of Donald Trump for president that yr.
Much like the response to Mainor’s announcement this week, Williams — who was nonetheless the Chairwoman of the Democratic Get together of Georgia on the time — referred to as Jones “a humiliation to the Democratic Get together.”
Not like Mainor, nevertheless, Jones had already had an actual historical past of sympathizing with the Grand Outdated Get together, together with accusations of hanging up a portrait of Robert E. Lee., voting for George W. Bush, waving a gun at a girl, pushing a county commissioner, rape, taking anger administration class and stealing taxpayer funds.
Ever since Jones stopped being a Democrat, he’s fallen proper according to different Black Republicans, together with espousing rhetoric that’s anti-Black, together with supporting the Capitol rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, pushing “the large lie” that Trump received the 2020 election, and selling homophobic and white supremacy views.
Solely time will inform if the identical will probably be true for Mainor’s future within the Republican Get together.
That is America.
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