"An Oregon state representative has announced that he is leaving the Republican Party and will seek reelection as a Democrat, citing in part his gay son and conservative bans targeting LGBTQ+ books. Cyrus Javadi, who represents the state's 32nd district, announced the switch on Friday, bringing the Democratic majority in the Oregon House of Representatives to 37 out of 60 seats. He said in a post to his substack page that he made the change because he wants to "get things done, stop the games, and cut through the partisan BS.""
""I know many Republicans who still share my values, but the party apparatus is headed somewhere else entirely," Javadi wrote. "It's not about governing. It's about burning things down. It's about isolating minority communities when politically convenient. It's about waving the Constitution when it helps your argument and ignoring it when it doesn't. That's not conservative. That's opportunistic. And it corrodes everything it touches.""
"Javadi cited several past proposals of his that had received support from Democrats but not his own party, including Medicaid benefits for children and plans to keep rural hospitals open. He said they were rejected by GOP representatives "not because the policies were flawed, but because helping me deliver for my district didn't fit the Republican Party's agenda." Javadi also cited Republicans' fixation on so-called culture war issues, noting "if outrage were a renewable energy source, Oregon could power the grid with Republican Facebook comments alone." This includes bans against books in public schools that deal with race, gender, or sexuality, which he asserted violates the First Amendment's free speech protections."
Cyrus Javadi announced he is leaving the Republican Party and will seek reelection as a Democrat, increasing Democrats to 37 of 60 House seats. Javadi represents Oregon's 32nd district and framed the switch as necessary to deliver results and avoid partisan obstruction. He cited blocked proposals that had Democratic support, such as Medicaid benefits for children and plans to keep rural hospitals open, which he said were rejected for political, not policy, reasons. Javadi sharply criticized Republican emphasis on culture-war issues, including book bans affecting LGBTQ+, race and gender content, and framed those measures as isolating minority communities and violating free speech protections.
Read at Advocate.com
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