Republican 'racism' spurs GOP official to become Democrat

[Honeycombe8]

In Oregon:

After 40 years as a Republican, Lori Stegmann has had a change of heart – and political party.

Stegmann, elected a Multnomah County commissioner in 2016, has changed her affiliation to Democrat, she said in an interview Tuesday.

Stegmann, 58, said she can sum up the reason for the change with one word: Trump. She added that she "cannot condone the misogyny, the racism, and the unethical and immoral behavior of the current administration."

Stegmann represents District 4 on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners. That district includes Gresham, Troutdale, Corbett and other small east county communities.

She said she is a political moderate, owing in part to her experience growing up in her district, as a businesswoman working in insurance and as a Republican who admired party greats like Sen. Mark Hatfield and Gov. Tom McCall.

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2018/07/republican_racism_spurs_gop_of.html


I am hoping this is a trend, and that moderate Republicans will not just abstain from voting, but will cross the line at least for the mid-terms, to flush Congress of some of the Trumper politicians.

[NewJeffCT]

1. We need to get Susan Collins

or somebody else in the Republican Party to switch at the national level, as well as a member or three of the House. (Not sure who the most "moderate" Republicans in the House are?)

[Zambero]

5. I'm surprised that it hasn't happened yet

Trump is dragging his party down, the mid-term numbers look dire for the GOP, and the backlash will likely persist for years. What future is there in the GOP for ANY moderate? The choice for them is to go along in partisan fashion with the current insanity, or push back, get primaried, and sent packing by the rabid "base". I suspect that deep down, Collins is more conservative than she is portrayed. Like Harry Reid once said, we can always depend on her vote, unless we actually need it. Still...?

[Honeycombe8]

6. I doubt Collins would. I think she'll be leaving Congress.

She made sounds previously about possibly running for Governor. She almost left this past year to do just that, but decided to stay. If she runs for Governor, she'll want the backing of the GOP and will need its money, I would think. Maybe not.

I remember Lincoln Chafee changed from Republican to Independent as a protest against the Bush-Cheney agenda. He lost his re-election...but went on to become Governor of Rhode Island. So that can work. By then, the country had turned against the Bush-Cheney agenda and the Iraq War.

[Timewas]

2. Not a cynic

BUT.......run as dem to get reelected ..?????

[oberliner]

3. She didn't notice the racism in the Republican party over the last 40 years?

[mrs_p]

4. I'm in the county (Portland area). Maybe because

It is so liberal here. Repubs are or, at least, appear to be prognostic moderates.

[Honeycombe8]

7. The moderates probably weren't that racist. There was always a faction of the party that was...

but the party as a whole was governed by the moderates or those just to the right of that. They kept the Nazis at bay and without power. Now the party is controlled by those extremists, so it is different these days, IMO. (People like Rick Scott, supposedly a "normal" Repub, were actually extremists...and racists, IMO. But they weren't really part of the mainstream Repubs, like Bush was. Cheney was a neocon, though, and I think racist. Not really a misogynist, probably because he really had independent daughters, unlike the robot mini-Don Ivanka.)