‘Don’t Recognize it’: Former California Democratic Leader Switches to GOP

Gloria Romero, a former Democratic majority leader in the State Senate, announced Wednesday that she has switched her party affiliation to the GOP.

Romero, 69, represented the east Los Angeles County area in the state Senate from 2001 to 2010 and was majority leader from 2005 to 2008. Previously she served one term in the Assembly.

“I am now another near-lifelong Democrat who is joining the growing number of people — including key groups, Latinos — who are leaving the Democratic Party,” she said at a press conference in Sacramento.

“This is not the Democratic Party that I once championed, I don’t recognize it anymore and I cannot continue,” she said.

Romero said she would vote for Donald Trump in November, calling the former President “a champion of working people.”

Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones of San Diego praised what he termed Romero’s “dedication to doing what’s best for California.”

“For years, Gloria urged her now former party to ‘wake up’ and start standing up for everyday families again,” he said. “We are honored to have Gloria on our side as we fight to fix California.”

In August, another California Democratic lawmaker announced she was switching to the Republican Party. State Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil said she had long been a Democrat, but she and the Democratic Party no longer have the same values since she was elected in 2022.