Republicans holding a majority in the Georgia House of Representatives gained a seat Tuesday when Mesha Mainor left the Democratic Party to join the GOP.
“We have been on a journey together for two terms, and we’ve had some wins,” Mainor said in a video posted Tuesday on her Twitter account. “But there is a better path, and we can do so much more. That is why today I am announcing I am joining the Republican Party.
Mainor won the 2022 Democratic primary for Georgia’s 56th House district, which encompasses much Atlanta’s north and northwest, with 65.3% of the vote. She ran unopposed in the general election to win a second term. Her party switch gives the GOP a 102-77 edge in the state House. The GOP also holds the majority in the state Senate.
In a May video, Mainor said the Democratic Party prioritizes "immigrant services" at the border over Black communities across the U.S. She has voted with the Republicans on several key pieces of legislation this year, including a school voucher bill that didn’t pass because many rural Republicans opposed it, citing a lack of private school alternatives in their areas.
“When I opposed efforts to defund the police, many of my colleagues called me a sell-out,” Mainor wrote Tuesday in another tweet. “I laughed at them. The only group I have EVER sold out to is my constituents, who deserve to live in safe communities, not war zones.”
Mainor’s party switch was welcomed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Kelly Loeffler, a former Republican Georgia U.S. senator.
“We welcome Representative Mainor to our party and look forward to working with her on issues for the benefit of hard-working Georgians,” Kemp tweeted.
“@MeshaMainor was attacked the moment she spoke out for law enforcement and educational freedom because, as we know, that's unacceptable in the modern-day Democratic Party,” Loeffler tweeted. “Grateful for her conviction, and her willingness to serve our state — as Georgia’s newest Republican!”
But Democrats are expected to challenge Mainor’s seat for the 2024 election, according to U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, who also serves as chair of the Georgia Democratic Party.
“Rep. Mesha Mainor’s switch to the GOP is a stinging betrayal of her constituents, who elected a Democrat to represent them in the state legislature,” Williams said, according to the Rome News Tribune. “House District 56 deserves a representative who will do the job they were elected to do, including fight for high-quality public education.”
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