Frankfort, ky. (AP) – The longtime state legislator announced Friday that he was changing parties by joining the Republican Supermays in the latest Democrats’ failure trying to restore support in Kentucky village.
State elder Robin Webb, representing the ranks of the northeastern Kentucky of four counties, revealed that she would join the GOP lawmakers controlling the flow of laws in the state. Webb was one of the last Kentucky legislative rural Democrats, and its lack of a party is tied more to the city and suburban areas, where large sections of rural areas control GOP.
Webb said in a press release that he was increasingly alienated from the Democratic Party because it continues to “left”.
“It has become unjustified and ineffective to me the best interests of my voters to remain a democrat,” Webb said. “I will continue to be fearless to the inhabitants of Kentucky village and East Kentucky, who were so good for me and my family.”
Colmon Elridge, chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party, said in a report that Webb had chosen to reconcile with a political party trying to finance the back tax benefits of rich “vulnerable people”.
This was a barbed reference to a multimedia dollar tax benefit package recently handed over by US Republicans. To compensate for some lost tax income, Republicans focused on changes to Medicaid and Food Stamps. According to the Bureau of Non -partisan Congress, $ 8.6 million Fewer people would be provided with health care and 3 million. Fewer people should benefit the Snap food stamps a month with the proposed changes.
“If these are her priorities, then we agree: she’s not a democrat,” Elridge said.
Webb emphasized that her main values had not changed.
“The only difference today is a letter next to my name,” she said.
Webb compiled a personal and professional curriculum vitae, deeply established in Kentucky’s culture. She is a hunter, a horse enthusiast and a former coal cake, changing her career paths to become a lawyer.
Webb first joined the Kentucky Palace in 1999, when the Democrats controlled the palace. Before she started the GOP -led Senate in 2009, she spent a decade as a state spokeswoman. Republicans occupied full control of the legislature in 2016. Elections when they rode Donald Trump’s Coattails to win the Kentucky Palace. In later elections, Republicans helped their legislative numbers and gave them a huge majority.
Republicans reached this dominance by winning the rural areas, which were previously held by Democrats, but the Webbo district remained a blue dot on the map on Friday.
The switching of her party leaves democrats mainly in the lawmaker of the rural presence. One exception is Ashley Tackett Lafety, representative of a democratic state, representing the Appalachian district.
Andy Beshear, Governor of the State Governor of two terms, won many rural counties and in his 2023. The re -election was collected by many rural counties. Its popularity was based on strong state economic growth during his term of office and disaster management, from tornadoes and floods to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kentucky Democrats are trying to encourage the return of the village with the public strategy testified by the ongoing listening journey of the State Party with stops in culturally conservative cities throughout the state.
Robert Benvenuti, chairman of the State Republican Party, said the Webbo Party switch reflects a broader political trend. 2022 The GVP overtook the Democratic Party at the public voter registration.
“Like many other Kentukians, she acknowledged that today’s Democratic Party politics and goals are simply not what they were once and did not coincide with the Kentukians,” he said.
Legislators will start their 2026. The session in early January, but Beshear said he would probably call legislators to a special session this year to receive Storm-Relif’s funding. The southeast parts of Kentucky were devastated with deadly tornadoes earlier in May, and the other part of the state of the state in April. Flooded floods.