State Rep. Mesha Mainor Trades Parties: What is She Thinking?

After the hard fought battles to get Georgia, the political epicenter of the nation, to go blue, with the election of Rev. Rafael Warnock to the U.S. Senate, State Rep. Mesha Mainor is switching parties and upsetting the delicate political balance across the  state and the nation.

Mainor who was elected as a Democrat, announced on Wednesday, July 12 that she had decided to become “a proud member of the Republican Party.” The move makes Mainor the first Black woman t serve as a Republican in the Georgia General Assembly.

On Wednesday, the Democrat turned Republican stated, “Democrats cannot say they care about people in marginalized communities when they want to keep them oppressed and suppressed.”

Mainor’s district, which stretches from Westview to Midtown Atlanta, is deep-blue. And her former party was quick to call Mainor out for playing a bait and switch with her constituents.

On Twitter, Mainor explained her decision by calling it a “Moral” decision, adding, “I will NEVER apologize for being a black woman with a mind of my own.”

Mesha Mainor’s switch to the GOP is a stinging betrayal of her constituents, who elected a Democrat to represent them in the state legislature,” wrote the Georgia Democratic Party in a statement. “House District 56 deserves a representative who will do the job they were elected to do.”

However, Republicans like Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene applauded the move, welcoming her to the party.

Note that less than three months ago, in April,  Mainor told Axios that she would never switch parties, despite her disagreements over school vouchers and other Democratic policy platforms. In fact, she told the outlet that she was a lifelong Democrat because they fought for “those that have been forgotten.”