Tampa state Rep. Susan Valdes on Monday switched her party registration from Democrat to Republican. The move expands the GOP majority in the House to 86-34, the largest Republican majority in the House, according to a memo from Speaker Danny Perez, R-Miami.
In a statement, Valdes, who is term limited and was recently re-elected as a Democrat, said she didn’t want to spend the next two years being “ignored” by her party.
“In the House, I have long known that no one has a monopoly on good ideas,” Valdes wrote in a statement posted on X. “I will not waste my final two years in the Florida Legislature being ignored in a caucus whose leadership expects me to ignore the needs of my community.”
Valdes was a former Hillsborough County School Board member who first ran for the House as a Democrat in 2018. She has frequently criticized Republicans, especially for harsh immigration policies and rhetoric.
“Rep. Valdes was elected by her constituents as a Democrat to fight for our shared values here in Tallahassee and has consistently and publicly shared that she feels the Republican Party does not adequately represent her constituents or her beliefs,” House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell, who also lives in Tampa, said in a statement. “It is sad that she has elevated her own aspirations above the needs of her district.”
Rep. Susan Valdes speaks in opposition to HB 265, which would require parental consent for abortion, during debate of the bill on the House floor at the Capitol Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020.
Last month, Valdes defeated Republican Maura Cruz Lanz by 5%. Last week, Valdes was campaigning to be Hillsborough County Democratic Executive Committee Chair, but lost out to Vanessa Lester.
Republican leaders celebrated the switch.
“We all know Susan as a fierce advocate for her community, and a person of uncommon common sense. She will be a great asset to our Republican team,” Perez stated in his memo.
“Welcome to the GOP, Rep. Valdez,” DeSantis wrote on X.
Valdes said she wants to work with Perez to help her district.
“I’m tired of being the party of protesting when I got into politics to be part of the party of progress,” Valdes wrote in her statement. “I know that I won’t agree with my fellow Republican House members on every issue, but in know that in their caucus, I will be welcomed and treated with respect.”
For Democrats, the move is another blow for a party on a severe losing streak. Republicans have more than 1 million more registered voters than Democrats and just swept last month’s elections, maintaining their supermajority in the state Senate and expanding it in the House.
Perez hasn’t yet appointed members to House committees. Lawmakers, though, are set to begin interim committee meetings in January, ahead of the March 4 start of the legislative session.
Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at grohrer@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tampa Democrat, Florida House Rep. Susan Valdes switches to Republican