Republicans have gained a supermajority in the Louisiana State House after a Democratic member switched parties.
State Rep. Francis Thompson, who has represented an area of northeast Louisiana as a Democrat for almost five decades, officially moved to the Republican side on Friday, March 17. The 81-year-old lawmaker has described himself as a “conservative” and had caucused with the Republican side for some time leading up to the decision.
“Let me clear— Nothing has changed!” Thompson wrote in a press statement shared by the Louisiana Republican Party. “There are values and principles that I firmly hold onto that guide my decisions. My conservative voting record over my years in the Legislature speaks for itself. 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.”
“My choice to move to the Republican Party is one that best represents my views and those of the constituents who elect me to serve them,” Thompson said in the update.
