Two House Democrats finally decide to switch to GOP
The final shoes from the Nov. 2 election in Georgia may have just dropped. This has arrived from the office of House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge:
State Representatives Ellis Black and Amy Carter today announced that they are joining the House Republican Caucus and resigning from the House Democratic Caucus.
“This is where I belong,” said Rep. Black. “When I was first elected, we had conservative Democrats in the leadership of the Democratic Party; today, there are none. I have a ten-year record of voting the thinking of my constituents, and I believe I can best serve my constituents as a Republican.”
“I am excited about this transition,” said Rep. Carter. “Many changes were brought about by our last election, and I feel that I can best represent my district as a member of the Republican Party. My record shows that I have always maintained an independent mindset, and I will continue to reach across party lines for solutions that will benefit my constituents.”
With today’s announcements, the Georgia House of Representatives now consists of 113 Republicans, 66 Democrats, and one independent.
“I am very pleased to welcome both Rep. Ellis Black and Rep. Amy Carter to the House Republican Caucus,” said House Speaker David Ralston. “These are outstanding Georgia leaders who have chosen to put the interests of their districts ahead of party. They have rightly decided that the interests of rural Georgia can best be served by joining the Republican Party. I look forward to working with them closely as we prepare for the challenges of the next legislative session.”
Representative Ellis Black represents the citizens of District 174, which includes Brooks and Echols counties, and portions of Lowndes and Thomas counties. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2000 and currently serves on the Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, Appropriations, Public Safety and Homeland Security, and Ways & Means committees.
Representative Amy Carter represents the citizens of District 175, which includes portions of Lowndes County. She was elected into the House of Representatives in 2006, and is currently the Secretary of Higher Education. She also serves on the Appropriations, Education, and Small Business Development & Jobs Creation committees.
By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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68 comments Add your comment
No1.PoliticalDivia49
November 22nd, 2010
4:28 pm
Okay Retired soldier I appreciate your admitting the mistake about the CIA, but you have not defended Bush and the republicans in the areas of healthcare or the economy. Perhaps they are just indefensible. And to ass-u-me that Bush was better than Kerry or Gore would have been simply will not fly because we as a nation will never know. But, I will say the next time the republicans pick up a president I hope he or she is at least as smart as Obama. Please no college drop outs (Palin and Bush) and no one who has avoided his duty five times on the dime of the American people. What a hypocrite (Chaney).What a murderous bunch (Laura). Even you have to admit the last administration was a real class act, a comedy of errors.
Retired Soldier
November 22nd, 2010
4:39 pm
No1-
I have defended Bush when I felt it was appropiate and not defended him for things like not vetoing more spending bills. Bush was a college dropout? You need to get the facts, he was a dropout if you don’t count his B.A. from Yale or his Masters from Harvard. Palin also is a grad from U.of Idaho I believe.
We make guesses of performance all the time, so I stand by my thought that Bush would have been better then Mr. Internet or Mr. Windsurfing.
Obama may be intelligent, but he lacks judgement in my opinion. Avoided duty? You mean Clinton and Obama I presume. Laura Bush was murderous? You really do need a sunset.
If the last administration was a comedy of errors, this admisistration has already passed them and are setting new records.
The Centrist
November 22nd, 2010
5:59 pm
Did Retired Soldier admit that the Bush Administration was a comedy of errors? True, most of the Obama errors were liberal attempts to correct the Bush errors and the conservatives made sure that the script was set. Instead of real debate of relating how the cost of healthcare on the economy, the comedy was hearing that healthcare reform was about “Death Panels” and folks on medicare screaming that they didn’t want government run healthcare. We will find out if that 48-page Republican healthcare plan will stay in place so that each person in Congress will have 3-days to read it, or is it another tragic comedy.
Last Man Standing
November 22nd, 2010
6:27 pm
Nope
November 22nd, 2010
12:58 pm
Bill Orvis Wright — I am sick and tired of you people in the suburbs blasting this city… Georgia would rank below Mississippi without Atlanta.
If you will guarantee that you will move ALL the residents of Atlanta with the city, you are welcome to relocate it outside of Georgia and I will happily join Mississippi!
Last Man Standing
November 22nd, 2010
6:38 pm
No1.PoliticalDivia49″
“Mr.KnowitAll, I am a proud Democrat and a supporter of Obama”
No. You are merely intelligence challenged.
Dirty Dawg
November 22nd, 2010
7:27 pm
Let ‘em switch…they were never Democrats to begin with. I say let ‘em all – the Blue/ish Dogs – change their affiliation. Then after a couple of years and the state has been FUBARed to the point that even the most cognitive dissonant among us will look around, shake their heads and ask, what in hell have we done? Well, the rest of us will have an answer for you only by then it’ll probably too late to matter.
Alabama Communist
November 22nd, 2010
7:32 pm
No doubt these rural democrats think they are moving from the Outhouse to indoor plumbing with the Republicans. Won’t they be surprise when they find out that the smell goes with any type of Plumbing!
missmollie
November 22nd, 2010
7:37 pm
When you are on a sinking ship it does not matter which chair you sit in. WELCOME!! A wise move…
Dunwoody Taxpayer
November 22nd, 2010
7:52 pm
two more votes for Milton county!
John
November 22nd, 2010
8:36 pm
The Democrats are finished in Georgia. Georgia has gone from a moderate/conservative Democratic state to a conservative Republican state. The only people left in the Democratic party are Liberals who have no power except to whine and cry such as Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown. Jason Carter, who is probably dreaming of higher office, probably has no realistic chance. Carter could not win state office and with the current districts he could not be a congressman because the district is majority black. The white liberal urban democrats are the Northern type that very liberal and will only talk but not pass any meaningful legislation. I speculate that folks such as Senator Nan Orrock and Jason Carter will be hard pressed to make a proclamation to honor an outstanding student or senior citizen in their community. This process of moving conservatives from the Democrat party to Republican took many years, but it was in the 1990s that the Democrats were able to hold power until most everyone changed parties. It was during the 1990s up until 2002 that there was that strange combination of conservatives, moderates, and liberals in the Democratic Party to just hold on to power that gave the liberals like Orrock too loud a voice. Now that the people changed to the Republicans, people like Orrack, Carter, Brown, and Stucky are thrown no bones. Liberals influence during the 1990s was artificial because most Georgians were and always have been conservative but at that point the conservative voice was split into to parties and one party -the Democrats used the liberals to give them the power. The Democrats had to cater to liberals in the 1990s – The Republicans do not need to cater to the liberals.
John
Karl Marx
November 23rd, 2010
6:23 am
Democrats are finished in Georgia? No they just switched to the RINO party. Good riddance they are traitors and the Repubs deserve them .
Tom
November 23rd, 2010
8:59 am
As a retired military/law enforcement, one of my proudest moments was when GW stood at the site of the fallen twin towers and said we will get the people responsible for these 3,000 deaths. Everyone there was shouting USA, USA many times. Made me proud to be an American. GB was not perfect(no one is) but he was a standup guy and yes I would personally water-board any of those terrorists if it would save American lives!! To call that torture is BS!!Now tell me of a special moment when your Community Organizer Obama has had with the American people? Remember now all people, not just blacks, browns or your law professor buds!!!!!!!!!!!!
Party-Switching In The South « Majority In Mississippi
November 23rd, 2010
10:07 am
[...] In Georgia (here and here), where Republicans expanded their majority in both houses on November 2, five Democrats- mainly [...]
GaBlue
November 23rd, 2010
1:28 pm
Tom @ 8:59,
Seriously? Yes, we all felt it at that moment too — the moment that called for the President standing up at the site of the attack and making the statements that GWB made. But do you really think any President would NOT have stood there and made pretty much that same speech? Going forward, GWB’s plan of action did NOT, in fact, yield the result of catching the people to did that to us. In fact, later, he said he “really just doesn’t think about Bin Laden all that much.” And you respond by skipping that part entirely, and criticizing THIS President for not making a speech like that? A “we’ve just been attacked, but we’re still strong and we’re not going down w/o a fight” speech?
Perhaps when someone else attacks us (and you’ll blame this Prez UNLIKE how you gave the last one a pass even though he ignored the memo…) you’ll FEEEEEEEL better about being an American again!
GEEBUSS CHRISTY!
You Can Tell By The Smell
November 23rd, 2010
4:13 pm
The Democratic Party (especially in the south) used to be a morally conservative, people oriented, party but that changed many years ago when it became the party of “single issue”, wild eyed, “run God out of the nation” liberals who drove the working class of folks out with their nutty ideas. As a former southern Democrat who finally had enough about 40 years ago, my family and I switched to Republican because, frankly, there was no where else to go. Now we have a country that has shipped its manufactuting base overseas ( with the help of both parties) and just about destroyed the USA economically. Ross Perot had it right back in 1992 when he warned us about the giant sucking sound of jobs leaving the USA and the huge national debt which was about 5 trillion at that time. Now we are fast turning into a “third world” country and there seems to be no way back to once again become the proud nation we used to be. This Thanksgiving we can thank the politicians in both parties who have made us all a bunch of turkeys in order to get bucks to win re-elections and take care of their special interest buddies who line their pockets. Have a great holiday!.
GaBlue
November 23rd, 2010
4:57 pm
“As a former southern Democrat who finally had enough about 40 years ago, my family and I switched to Republican because, frankly, there was no where else to go.”
We all know what happened 40 years ago. No translation needed.
Retired Soldier
November 23rd, 2010
5:18 pm
What happened in 1097 GaBlue? You seem to have all the answers. Please inform the great unwashed.
Retired Soldier
November 23rd, 2010
5:28 pm
1970 that is