OAN Roy Francis
UPDATED 8:35 AM – Tuesday, April 11, 2023
Louisiana State Representative Jeremy LaCombe has declared that he is switching affiliations from the Democrat party to the Republican party on Monday.
LaCombe is now the second representative from Louisiana to switch party affiliations in the last month, as just days before, Representative Francis Thompson had also left the Democrats and joined the Republican party.
The two Louisiana Representative are joined by Representative Tricia Cotham (R-N.C.) who had joined the Republican party in North Carolina on Wednesday.
Due to state representatives switching party affiliations, Republicans now hold a supermajority in the state House in Louisiana, as well as North Carolina.
LaCombe’s decision was announced on Monday, however, unlike Cotham, he did not state the reasons behind his choice.
House Democratic Caucus Chair Sam Jenkins (D-La.) addressed the move, and claimed that LaCombe still holds the “same values” as the Democratic Caucus and looks forward to working with him.
“House Democrats will continue to stand up for the working people of Louisiana,” he said. “We look forward to working with Rep. LaCombe during this legislative session to increase wages, lower costs, improve our schools and pass insurance reform that benefit Louisiana families and small businesses.”
LaCombe had been elected in 2019 to District 18 of Louisiana, which represents parts of Pointe Coupee, and West Baton Rouge parishes. He had decisively won with 68% of the vote in a special election, and 62% in an election to a full term.
The switch of the Louisiana Representative to the Republican party bring the number of Democrats in the 105-member house down to only 32, while Republicans now have 71 members, along with the two registered Independents.
Louisiana, which was once dominated by Democrats, has in recent years seen the Republicans assume greater numbers and power within the state Legislature. Although Governor John Bel Edwards (D-La.) has won two terms, the majority of elected officials are now Republicans who hold a supermajority in both chambers of the Legislature.
According to Fox News, the recent switch come as President Joe Biden is facing near-record low rating among groups such as women (43%), voters who are over 45 years of age (41%), suburban voters (41%), rural voters (31%), and Democrats (81%) as well.
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