Florida state legislator Susan Valdes is leaving the Democratic party for the GOP, adding to Republicans' supermajority in Tallahassee.
Valdes, who won re-election last month as a Democrat, said she no longer wants to be with the "party of protesting" in a statement announcing her decision. Her move leaves Florida Republicans with their largest ever supermajority of 86-34 supermajority.
Valdes' move is another blow to Democrats in a former swing state that has shifted significantly to the right.
President-elect Trump won Florida by a monster, double-digit margin in last month's election - which saw him reclaim the presidency with a broad, multiracial coalition supporting him.
This month, Trump had a street officially named after him in Miami-Dade County, which he flipped red for the first time since the 1980s.
In a post on X, Valdes said she comes from a family of Democrats and had long believed the party fought for the working-class, but she has changed her mind. She slammed her fellow Democrats as close-minded, echoing critics who blame progressive intolerance for the party's shellacking in November.
“I’m tired of being the party of protesting when I got into politics to be part of the party of progress,” Valdes wrote in her statement.
See statement below… pic.twitter.com/JUVhsziSL7
— Susan L. Valdés (@SusanLValdesFL) December 9, 2024
“I know that I won’t agree with my fellow Republican House members on every issue, but in know that in their caucus, I will be welcomed and treated with respect.”
“In the House, I have long known that no one has a monopoly on good ideas,” Valdes wrote. "I will not waste my final two years in the Florida Legislature being ignored in a caucus whose leadership expects me to ignore the needs of my community.”
Republicans embraced Valdez' move, with Florida governor Ron DeSantis (R) writing, "welcome to the GOP, Rep. Valdez."
But Democrats like Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith accused her of being an opportunist.
"To be clear— her community re-elected her as a Democrat, just to get that straight,” Smith said.
“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for everything… And only a few days ago, she lost a leadership race for the Democratic Party to be the local chair."
Democrats are just proving her point. If Democrats want to rebuild their party, they will have to stop attacking everyone who disagrees with them.
