Longtime Democratic Politician and Activist Announces Switch to Republican Party: 'I've Had Enough'
Longtime Brooklyn Democratic politician and activist Dov Hikind announced Thursday that he has bolted from the Democratic Party and enrolled as a Republican.
Hikind represented his Brooklyn neighborhood for 36 years in the New York State Assembly and later founded Americans Against Antisemitism, according to Fox News.
Hikind announced his switch in a video posted to Twitter.
“IT’S OFFICIAL: My wife and I have switched our party affiliation from Democrat to Republican! Ppl have long been asking, ‘Dov, when are you gonna leave the Democratic Party?’ Well, the time has come bc the Dems have turned their back on Jews & Israel, so it’s officially done!” he wrote.
IT’S OFFICIAL: My wife and I have switched our party affiliation from Democrat to Republican!
Ppl have long been asking, “Dov, when are you gonna leave the Democratic Party?”
Well, the time has come bc the Dems have turned their back on Jews & Israel, so it’s officially done! pic.twitter.com/VAlGaaALDO
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) July 20, 2023
“It took a long time, but I am delighted to join the Republican Party. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party has become so radicalized, so radical, run by the radicals, that people who are moderates or conservative are not welcome in the Democratic Party,” he said in a video with his wife, Shani.
“I’ve had enough,” he added.
Hikind has been a staunch supporter of Israel, and noted that anti-Israel rhetoric from Democrats has soured him on the party he once identified with.
“The Democratic Party has turned its back on its friends, like Israel,” he said, as has “the Biden administration, right now, in policy after policy.”
As noted by Fox News, Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington recently called Israel a “racist state” while fellow Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a leader of the House “squad” of progressives, led a boycott of an address to Congress by President Isaac Herzog of Israel.
The Democratic party is dead. The radical Progressives are in full control. Its time to jump Ship. @POTUS you are responsible. https://t.co/RdFtCjVdvO
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) July 16, 2023
In the Twitter video, Shani Hikind called the change “the right move” for “all of us who feel like the Democratic Party no longer represents our interests, what we stand for, our values.”
Hikind said their departure was a “message to the Biden administration, a message to the Democratic Party.”
She added: “We’re losing the American people because you are not representing our values. You are not representing … the Democratic Party that my parents were so proud of.”
House minus 9 reps passes resolution supporting Israel & stating “Israel is not a racist or apartheid state.” The following members showed their true antisemitic colors:@AOC @RepRashida @IlhanMN @JamaalBowmanNY @repdeliaramirez @CoriBush @RepSummerLee @RepAndreCarson @RepPressley… pic.twitter.com/4OeyfqQCf7
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) July 19, 2023
Overall, more than one million Americans have switched their party affiliation from Democrat to Republican in the last 12 months, according to Fox News.
Hikin has been an outspoken leader in the fight against persecution of the Jewish people.
“Things now are worse than ever in my lifetime. There is something different right now,” he said in a recent interview with the Jewish News Syndicate.
Hikind said the media does little to help.
“Most media don’t want to talk about where the hate is coming from and why it’s there,” he said. “They prefer to talk about white supremacy instead of what is happening in New York, that has nothing to do with white supremacy.”
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