Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan has joined the Democratic Occasion after falling out with the GOP, saying the swap has been coming for some time.
Duncan, in an op-ed printed by the Atlanta Journal-Structure on Tuesday, stated his journey to becoming a Democrat started effectively earlier than President Trump tried to “steal” the 2020 presidential election, an effort that Duncan denounced him for on the time.
“There’s no date on a calendar or line within the sand that factors to the precise second in time my political coronary heart modified, nevertheless it has,” he stated. “My determination was centered round my every day battle to like my neighbor, as a Republican.”
Duncan outlined numerous coverage points that contributed to his determination to make the swap, attacking Republicans for his or her dealing with of well being care, Medicaid, help for poor individuals, gun management and immigration.
The previous lieutenant governor stated his time serving in elected office taught him that one of the best ways to “love my neighbor” is thru public coverage.
He added that Republicans have argued for many years that the answer to not having medical health insurance is to get a job, however most uninsured Georgians stay in working households however don’t have insurance coverage due to points with affordability or eligibility.
“So, the truth is that they have a job, simply the improper job,” Duncan wrote. “One which doesn’t provide medical health insurance or generate sufficient spare cash every month to afford their very own medical health insurance plan.”
He stated Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” will go away Medicaid funding “in shambles” with lots of of billions of {dollars} slashed from this system. He additionally criticized the laws’s cuts to funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, extra generally often called meals stamps. and the impact it should have on stopping kids from being hungry in school.
Duncan cited polls displaying widespread help for gun management measures like common background checks and purple flag legal guidelines and slammed the Trump administration’s immigration insurance policies that he stated, “have became a lesson on how to not love your neighbor.”
He additionally argued that immigration coverage ought to give attention to securing the border, deporting these within the nation illegally who’ve dedicated felonies and making a path to citizenship for the others.
Duncan’s determination comes months after the Georgia Republican Occasion expelled him from the get together following his endorsement of former Vice President Harris in the course of the 2024 presidential election. He additionally spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August in help of Harris.
The previous Georgia State lawmaker has been a pointy critic of Trump and the GOP extra broadly significantly because the president’s efforts to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol assault. He selected to not run for reelection as lieutenant governor in 2022.
“The record of the explanation why I’m now a Democrat continues to develop,” Duncan concluded. “Most significantly, my determination places me in the absolute best place every day to like my neighbor.”
He is only one of some former officials who’ve switched from Republican to Democrat in current months, together with former Reps. Joe Walsh (Ailing.) and David Jolly (Fla.).