Democratic Rep. Mainor switches to GOP

Rep. Mesha Mainor of Atlanta announced Tuesday, July 11 that she is changing to the Republican party. She made the announcement on social media saying:”

“My name is Rep. Meisha Mainor and today I made the decision to leave the Democrat Party. I represent a blue district in the city of Atlanta so this wasn’t a political decision for me. It was a MORAL one. I will NEVER apologize for being a black woman with a mind of my own.”

Mainor was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 2021, in House District 56, a Democratic stronghold that stretches from Atlantic Station to Westview. Her decisions to switch parties makes her prospects for reelection potentially difficult. 

During this year’s General Assembly session, the former Democratic state representative was criticized by fellow Democrats for voting with Republicans on several key pieces of legislation this year, most notably her vote in favor of a controversial school voucher bill which failed to pass when a number of rural Republicans opposed it.

On her flip to the other side of the aisle, Mainor said the Democratic Party doesn’t have her community’s best interests at heart. “As a lifelong Democrat … I blindly followed a vision that is far from reality,” she said. “It is time to put people and sound policy above politics and false narratives.”

U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, who also serves as chair of the Georgia Democratic Party, vowed Democrats will put up a stiff challenge to Mainor next year. “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. “House District 56 deserves a representative who will do the job they were elected to do, including fight for high-quality public education.” 

Mainor also cited additional reasons why she believed the Democratic Party “left her” and not the other way around pointing to “left-wing radicalism, lawlessness, and putting the interests of illegal aliens over the interest of Americans.”  Mainor told Fox News, “When I decided to stand up on behalf of disadvantaged children in support of school choice, my Democrat colleagues didn’t stand by me. 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’s shift increases the Republican majority in the Georgia House to 102 over the Democratic Party’s 78.

Mainor has already been welcomed by high-powered Republicans including former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler, House Speaker Jon Burns, Georgia Republican Chairman Josh McKoon, and Governor Brian Kemp who said in a tweet, “We welcome Representative Mainor to our party and look forward to working with her on issues for the benefit of hardworking Georgians.”