Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced that he is leaving the Democratic Party to join the GOP.
Villanueva served as LA County Sheriff from 2018 to 2022.
“As of today, I’m leaving the party of paid protests, purple hair, and pronouns, and joining the party of faith, family, and freedom,” he said.
The audience erupted in applause.
The California Republican Party celebrated Vilanueva’s announcement, writing on X, “Chairwoman @corrinrankin and the entire @CAGOP welcome you to the Republican Party, @AlexVilanueva33! Californians are realizing that the @CA_Dem left them and sanity behind. You’re not alone. Choosing law and order, freedom, and common sense is the right move!”
Chairwoman of the California Republican Party, Corrin Rankin, said she left the Democratic Party when she saw “it no longer stood for the values” she was raised with, listing personal responsibility, public safety, and freedom.”
“Welcome to our movement to restore common sense!” she added.
Similarly, California State Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil said, “Welcome to the right side! Who will be next? I left the Democratic party because they have lost touch with the every day American. So many promises broken and enough pandering to Hispanic Californians. Be done and register Republican.”
Alvarado-Gil switched her party affiliation to Republican in August.
“I’ve been a Democrat my whole adult life. My first vote as an 18-year-old new voter was as a Democrat,” Alvarado-Gil said at the time. “The Democratic Party of today is not the Democratic Party that I signed up with as a new voter. It has changed. The pendulum has swung so far to the left that it has disengaged from what true Californians value—our middle-class values, our families, our diversity in California. And frankly, I just could not support an ideology over the will of the people.”
