Posted on 11/15/2021 8:30:05 AM PST by TexasGurl24
Longtime Democratic state Rep. Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City is switching parties as Republicans press to make new inroads in South Texas and after redistricting made his district much more favorable to the GOP.
Guillen was set to make the announcement Monday morning during a news conference in Floresville where he was joined by Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont.
"After much consideration and prayer with my family, I feel that my fiscally conservative, pro-business, and pro-life values are no longer in-step with the Democrat Party of today, and I am proudly running as a Republican to representHouse District 31," Guillen said in a statement.
Guillen’s decision to run for reelection under the GOP banner is a boon for Republicans who have been working to show new strength in South Texas after President Joe Biden underperformed there in 2020. The decision also comes after the GOP-led redistricting process turned Guillen’s district, already Republican-leaning, into a solidly red one.
Guillen is already well-known as an outlier in his caucus. He is the least liberal Democrat in the House, according to rankings from Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University.
Guillen was one of seven House Democrats who voted earlier this year to allow permitless carry of handguns. He stayed behind this summer when most House Democrats fled to Washington, D.C., in protest of Republicans’ priority elections bill. And he was the only Democrat to vote last month for a bill preventing transgender students athletes from playing on teams that correspond with their gender identity.
(Excerpt) Read more at krgv.com ...
Too stupid, too long.
Easy there.
I understand your cynicism but understand that Starr county is right on the border, not too far from Brownsville and it's about 96% Hispanic.
While he still needs to be watched, I'm thinking that this is an interesting victory.
He’s been a demokkkrat representative for 18 years. Only now is he figuring out the anti-life fiscally-profligate (although, like Republicans are to talk about this), anti-business, anti-human, anti-God agenda of the Party of Satan??
Another opportunist. The Republican Party is full of them!
Wouldn’t that be nice.
Did Rep. Ryan Guillen support constitutional carry?
Hope this is not a rat deciding to be a rino.
Yes. He voted in favor of Constitutional Carry.
He was one of 3 Democrats who voted in favor.
1 Republican (Morgan Meyer) voted against.
In a lot of these areas, you simply couldn’t win running as a Republican. Some figured out they could win on the Dem line even if their ideology was center-right. Hispanics are waking up and trending GOP, especially in the Rio Grande Valley.
Well, that is a relief.
At least he is on the correct side of that gun issue.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m willing to accept the opportunist. That’s part of how politics works. Even if some of your members aren’t so hot, if you have a majority in the chamber, you get to set the agenda.
But a guy like this should be watched, and his ascent in the party leadership should be slow.
Man, how we could use just a handful of switches on the national level. Just one in the Senate!
Yaaay! Good news.
Sounded good to me. One less democrat to foul things up.
Cannot get too excited about this. Just another liberal in RINO clothing.
Just add to the pile of baby kissers who do not believe the Citizens of Texas can decide by vote, up or down, whether they can be free from Mordor on the Potomac and once again be a free nation. So they, RINOs, sit on a bill in committee until it dies.
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