Politics

Las Vegas Mayor leaves Democratic Party and joins Republicans, claiming Democrats to be ‘socialists’

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The Mayor of North Las Vegas has recently expressed his dissatisfaction with the Democrat party’s current political and ideological agenda, even calling the current state of the party “socialist” and “elitist.”

John Lee– the Las Vegas mayor who ran and was elected as a Democrat– has recently left the Democratic Party, opting to join the oppositional Republican Party of Nevada. In a recent interview on Fox & Friends, Mayor Lee claimed that the Democratic Party’s current “socialist” and “elitist” agenda is not one that he “can stand with anymore.” 

Mayor Lee expanded on his accusations, saying, “They had an election recently for leadership, and four of the five people were card-carrying members of the Socialist Party. It’s not the party that I grew up with 25 years ago in this environment, and it’s not the party I can stand with anymore.” Mayor Lee went on to explain his frustration with such an ideological agenda, saying, “The working class, or working men and women of this country, and also the small business owners are not a part of the conversation anymore. It all has to do with the elitists and it has to do with the socialists. That is not the agenda that I have in mind for this country of the future.”

The Las Vegas Mayor described his position on certain divisive political issues, explaining his disagreement with current leadership of the Democratic Party on such issues; Mayor Lee said, “When you’re a pro-life Democrat, a pro-gun Democrat, and you’re a very conservative person, that’s not really well known in the Democratic Party anymore. And so for me to hang on as long as I did, hoping the party would change, it didn’t, it got worse. So therefore, I found a new place that I can put my allegiance to and help. Once again, forget about the last eight years. It’s the next four years that predict the future.”

Mayor Lee is currently serving his second term as mayor of Las Vegas. However, during Lee’s 2017 campaign he vowed that he would not be running for a third term, if elected. Thus, some have speculated that Mayor Lee’s bold political move was made because of his lack of fear of political retaliation. As Lee will not have to worry about running for reelection, he will not need major partisan support. Thus, it’s entirely possible that Lee only switched parties because he would not be running another mayoral campaign. 

Many conservatives have welcomed Lee’s defection to their party. As a result, many critics of Lee’s defection have attacked his decision as “reckless.” However, as many citizens of Las Vegas have noted, this event largely changes nothing. Many Americans have argued that whether Lee– or any other politician– has a “D” or “R” by their name is irrelevant, as what really matters is the name that letter is next to.

ARTICLE: CARSON WOLF

PHOTO CREDITS: LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

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