A state representative in Georgia has announced that she is leaving the Democratic Party and joining the Republicans after her Democrat colleagues "crucified" her for supporting school choice and refusing to support efforts to defund the police.
On Tuesday, Rep. Mesha Mainor, who has been serving as the state representative from District 56 since January 2021, announced that she had formally changed her party registration from Democratic to Republican. "I represent a blue district in the city of Atlanta so this wasn’t a political decision for me," she wrote on Twitter. "It was a a MORAL one. I will NEVER apologize for being a black woman with a mind of my own."
Mainor later explained to Fox News Digital that she had lately endured heavy criticism from Democrats over her support for school choice and the police. "When I decided to stand up on behalf of disadvantaged children in support of school choice, my Democrat colleagues didn’t stand by me," she said. "They crucified me. When I decided to stand up in support of safe communities and refused to support efforts to defund the police, they didn’t back me. They abandoned me."
Mainor was the only Democrat who voted for Georgia Senate Bill 233, which would have provided vouchers worth $6,500 that parents could use toward private school tuition if their child's school was performing in the bottom 25% in the state. The measure failed, however, after 16 Republicans voted against it.
"The Democrats at the [Georgia State] Capitol took a hard position and demanded every Democrat vote against children and for the teachers union," she said at the time. "I voted yes for parents and yes for children not failing schools."
Now a Republican, Mainor has nothing nice to say about her former party. "The most dangerous thing to the Democrat Party is a black person with a mind of their own," she said. She also claimed to feel relief that "for the first time in a long" time she had been embraced by "individuals who don’t find fault in a black woman having a mind of her own and be willing to buck the party line."
"I have a few colleagues upset with me to the point where they are giving away $1,000 checks to anyone that will run against me," she said. "I'm not apologizing because my [Democrat] colleagues don't like how I vote."
Mainor also stated that Democrat promises to the black community have begun to ring hollow and worries that too many black children struggle with basic skills, like reading.
"It's ironic. I'll say every election year, I hear 'Black Lives Matter.' But do they? I see every other minority being prioritized except black children living in poverty that can't read," she claimed. "We'll send $1,000,000 to the border for immigrant services. But black communities? Not even a shout-out. I'm sorry, I don't agree with this."
Some notable Republicans in the state, including former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Georgia Republican Party State Chairman Josh McKoon, have already welcomed Mainor to their team. "This is a historic day for Georgia Republicans," McKoon said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the website for the Georgia state legislature still listed Mainor as a Democrat.
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