Republican legislators from Louisiana were able to secure a historic upper hand in the wake of one longtime Democrat choosing to swap parties.
Having been known to serve as a Democrat out of northeast Louisiana for the past few decades, State Rep. Francis Thompson elected to swap party registration this past Friday, as reported by the local CBS affiliate WAFB.
As a result of this part swap, Republicans now sport the necessary numbers in both chambers of the state legislature to create a full two-thirds supermajority that can fully override any vetoes attempted by Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards.
This marks the first time Republican legislators in the state have maintained such an advantage for the state in the close to the 210-year history of Louisiana, as reported by Newsweek.
81-year-old Thompson claimed that “nothing” has changed when it comes to his values, but he did nod to having a fairly “conservative” voting record.
This morning Rep. Francis Thompson is switching from Democrat to Republican giving the R’s a supermajority in the House #lalege #lagov pic.twitter.com/w4Hg1aMPat
— Shannon Heckt (@ShannonHeckt) March 17, 2023
“The push the past several years by Democratic leadership on both the national and state level to support certain issues does not align with those values and principles that are a part of my Christian life,” explained Thompson in a statement.
As explained in a report from the Associated Press, Thompson joined Republicans in recent years to sound the call for a veto override session.
This seemingly includes a failed attempt back in 2021 which tried to override a veto of a piece of legislation that would have put a stop to any biological male athletes from taking part in either women’s or girls’ sports. However, the governor did not attempt to try and pursue yet another veto to put a stop to a ban on transgender sports late last year.
Democrats throughout Louisiana, which has been trending more and more red over the past few decades, seemingly shrugged off the recent news regarding the changing of official party affiliation from Thompson.
“While Rep. Thompson’s decision is disappointing, it is not surprising. He already caucused with Republicans,” explained House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Sam Jenkins in a recently released statement.
