Mike McDonnell, a Nebraska state senator, announced that he has switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.
The announcement comes as McDonnell was recently censured by Democrats after voting to restrict abortion and transgender surgeries for minors.
“In 1984 I registered as a Democrat. I was a Christian a member of the Roman Catholic Church and Pro-life,” he declared. “In 2016 I ran as a pro-life candidate for Legislative District 5.”
“I asked the Democratic Party in Douglas County to respect that I’m pro-life, that I’m a member of the Roman Catholic Church. And my beliefs are based on that,” he added. “Douglas County Democrats instead of respecting it, they decided to punish it. They said you cannot participate, you can’t be a delegate, we’re not gonna share our party resources.”
“It’s never easy to make this kind of decision,” McDonnell noted. “But what makes it easier is the people standing behind me. Over the last year, regardless of my decision switching parties, they have been so supportive.”
He explained he had “great discussions about what the Republican Party is doing” and was looking forward to “[participating] again.”
Nebraska Democratic Party Chairwoman Jane Kleeb defended the move to censure McDonnell in a statement, “The Nebraska Democratic Party will continue to stand up for reproductive freedom and the human rights of the LGBTQ community. Our decision to censure Sen. McDonnell was never about him being a pro-life Catholic.”
“Our decision was based on our party reaffirming our core values to protect women’s ability to make health decisions and to keep politicians out of our personal health decisions. We respect the ongoing work of Senator McDonnell on behalf of unions and his commitment to protect a fair electoral vote system we have in our state.”
Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE), meanwhile, welcomed McDonnell to the Republican Party, saying, “I am pleased to welcome Senator Mike McDonnell to the Republican Team. The extreme new Democrats are pushing common sense officials and voters to our party. The addition of Mike McDonnell to the Republican rolls in the legislature means for the first time in recent memory there is a filibuster-proof Republican majority in the Unicameral.”