US NATIONAL NEWS
Georgia Democrat Mesha Mainor, at odds with her party, switches to Republicans
ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia state legislator from Atlanta switched to the Republican Party on Tuesday, after being at odds with Democrats for reasons including her support for school vouchers and disciplining prosecutors.
Rep. Mesha Mainor becomes the only Black member of the GOP among Georgia’s 236 state lawmakers, and the first Black Republican woman to ever serve in the Georgia General Assembly. Mainor’s defection gives Republicans a 102-78 edge in the House.
Mainor said legislative Democrats drove her out of the party for breaking party orthodoxy, claiming at a Tuesday news conference outside the Georgia Capitol that they had “relentlessly tried to sabotage every single thing that I have done for District 56” and “publicly slandered me in every way imaginable.”
“I thought it was OK to not agree with those things as a Democrat. But they told me, ‘You know what, those are values we just don’t have,’” Mainor said, flanked by state Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon.
But she had long been on the outs as part of a minority faction of Atlanta-area Democrats and for deeply personal reasons revolving around a stalking incident where Mainor felt her stalker got off too easy.
The tension between Mainor and other Democrats burst into the open earlier this year after Mainor became the only Democrat to vote for a school voucher bill that failed after a number of House Republicans broke ranks to oppose it. School choice has always had some support among urban Black Democrats, but Mainor’s fellow party members reacted with scorn even as Republicans rallied to Mainor’s support. State Sen. Josh McLaurin, an Atlanta Democrat, posted a picture of a $1,000 check online for a primary challenger, writing “All I need is a name.”
Mainor, first elected in 2020, represents House District 56, an ultra-Democratic swath of Atlanta including its Midtown neighborhood and close-in parts of the city’s west side. She had said earlier that she wouldn’t switch parties. Tuesday, though, she urged other lifelong Democrats to reexamine the party’s values.
“I am encouraging more Black Americans and Black Democrats in particular – you might have this coat on, but I suggest you look at the lining. See what’s on the inside,” she said.
McKoon welcomed Mainor, saying her move shows that the Republican Party is “where diversity of opinion is welcome, where different ideas, talking about different policy ideas and solutions together is a strength, not a weakness.”
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