Senator Guillory’s Switch To Republican Party For Political Reasons

Senator Elbert Guillory, who recently changed his party affiliation from Democratic to Republican visited 'Mornings With Ken and Bernie' today to discuss his decision.  We noted that the day after the announcement he had discussed his decision and we wondered why he chosen to make a video that had since gone viral.  To that Senator Guillory replied,

We did a little video for the home folks so that they would understand what we're doing and why we're doing it and all of a sudden it took off.

At one time Senator Guillory was a Republican and became a Democrat and then two weeks ago joined the Republican Party once again.  We asked him to explain and Guillory said,

Certainly.  I was elected to represent a district that was very Democrat about eight years ago.  And remember the political climate eight years ago all of the positions, major jobs in Louisiana were held by Democrats.  I made the switch and my district felt it was the appropriate thing to do and they elected me.  Not based on the fact that I was a Democrat but based on my history and who I was and what I had done and my commitment to the community.   That has all changed and the Democrat party has changed.  Not only is every major job held by Republicans but the Democrat Party has moved away from the basic values that it held eight, nine, ten years ago.  It's gotten kinda weird on a bunch of areas like gun control, like prayer in school, big government spending, family issues...all those values.  It has moved.  It's moved away from where Louisiana is and away from where the people in my district are...When it moved it left us behind.  It certainly left me behind and now I'm very comfortable in the Republican Party.

Some people have said Senator Guillory's decision was a political move and he replied,

I am a politician.  There are a few things I do that are not related to politics.  All of the decisions,  as I was saying a moment ago..the people who make decisions in Louisiana are now Republicans.  The head of the Senate, the head of the House of Representatives, actually a majority in the Senate and a majority in the House are all Republicans so if we don't have a voice, my district does not have a voice in and a presence in those rooms where the decisions are made in Louisiana we are left out, and we were...For example there was a decision to make.  There was an appointment to a school board, a college school board that we used to have.  The decision was made in a room filled with Republicans and it (the position) was switched from a Democrat which was Guillory to a Republican.  I was not in that room and we lost that position...I'm now in the room and now I can represent my people, my community much better than I could from outside the room.

Listen to the interview:

You can also watch the video were he explains fully his decision.