Tennessee state Senator Mike Williams of Maynardville announced today that he will leave the Senate Republican Caucus and will become an Independent.
This will bring the chamber to 16 Republicans, 16 Democrats, and one Independent. Chamber leadership will remain unchanged.
(This news is also on MyDD.)
Senator Williams blamed the extreme partisan nature of the Republican party for the switch. "Some in [the Republican party] are leading us down a path of bitterness and divisiveness and in doing so, they have left me," he said. "I have not left them."
Michael Davies, Executive Director of the
Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and a Tennessee native, said:
"Mike Williams comes from a bedrock Republican district in East Tennessee. For him to leave the Republican Party shows that they have some serious internal problems."
"Democrats are the mainstream party at the state legislative level, electing locally-rooted candidates who roll up their sleeves and find common-sense solutions to state problems. Republicans tend to focus on divisive social issues; clearly this focus is chasing the moderates from their Party."
This is a growing national trend.
Washington state Rep. Rodney Tom left the Republican party last March, saying, "The far right has taken over the party."
Last August, Oklahoma state Senator Nancy Riley defected, saying "The driving force in my decision is that no one in [Republican] leadership is listening to moderates in the Oklahoma Republican Party."
There have been several party-switchers in Kansas as well.