Longtime California Democratic Party leader says ‘adios’ to her party, joins GOP because she’s ‘had enough’

A former longtime leader of the California Democratic Party announced Wednesday that she no longer “recognizes her party,” while stressing that she still considers many of its historical figures, including former President John F. Kennedy, to be her “heroes.”

Gloria Romero, who served as state Senate majority leader for three years during her more than 10-year tenure in Sacramento, criticized the current state of her former party.

Romero said she served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention for Jesse Jackson and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, adding that many Latinos and Latinas are leaving the party for similar reasons.

“Today I say, ‘Goodbye – adios’ – I’ve had enough,” the former San Gabriel Valley lawmaker said in her announcement.

“I am now another lifelong Democrat joining the growing number of people…who are leaving the Democratic Party.

“Today, I join the Republican Party to make America great again, and I am ready to do my part as America prepares to vote,” Romero said, adding that she received a warm welcome from her former political opponent.

She said she could not stand idly by while Democrats took “a giant step toward authoritarianism (and) censorship,” noting that former President Reagan warned that if fascism arose in the United States, it would come under the guise of liberalism.

“It’s terrifying how the language has been changed so that as a feminist and a former professor… I would be condemned for saying that I can define a woman and distinguish between biological sex and gender identity,” Romero said.

“While I am pro-choice, I will not support a party that advocates abortion up to term. I am a mother and I refuse to define myself as a ‘birthing person.'”

“The Republican Party has become the party of peace while the Democrats have marched toward endless war.”

She also attacked the green movement within the Democratic Party, expressing opposition to regulations on household appliances.

“As a Latina, I’m not giving up my gas stove; you can’t toast a tortilla on an electric stove,” she joked.

Standing on the steps of the state Capitol in Sacramento, Romero said she was officially aligning herself with the GOP under former President Trump, who she said is the true champion of working people and the Reaganite “big tent.”

“I will vote for Donald Trump this fall,” she said.

Asked about Romero’s decision, Los Angeles Democratic officials called his official announcement “old news.”

“We knew then about Gloria what California Republicans know best: The scam is real,” Mark Gonzalez, the former county party chairman, told the Los Angeles Daily News.

Another former party member said on X, formerly Twitter, that the GOP “rehashes old news to stay relevant.”

State Sen. Brian W. Jones, R-San Diego, the top Republican in the state House, welcomed Romero to the party, saying in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital that Romero had tried unsuccessfully to “wake up” his old party to its leftward shift.

“His leadership and experience have always been focused on serving the people, not partisan politics. It takes real courage to step away from the party you led and stand up for what is right,” Jones said.

“The pendulum is swinging in California: skyrocketing prices, rising crime and record homelessness are the direct consequences of a failed government…”

Current state Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil of Jackson also joined the GOP in early August.

At the time, Alvarado-Gil said his former party was also “unrecognizable” and “lacked the will to solve the problems plaguing the state.”