Iowa's Longest-Serving Republican Switches Parties Because of Trump

The lawmaker, Rep. Andy McKean, served a combined 24 years in the Iowa House and Senate between 1979 and 2003 and then returned to the Legislature in 2017. At a news conference Tuesday, he said he could not support Trump moving forward, in part because he found the president’s spending to be “reckless,” his foreign policy “erratic” and “destabilizing” and his disregard for the environment concerning.

He also attacked Trump’s demeanor, saying he sets a poor example by insulting and bullying those he disagrees with and ridiculing and marginalizing people based on their appearance and ethnicity.

“I believe that his actions have coarsened political discourse, have resulted in unprecedented divisiveness and have created an atmosphere that is a breeding ground for hateful rhetoric and actions,” McKean said. “Some would excuse this behavior as ‘telling it like it is’ and the new normal. If this is the new normal, I want no part of it.”

“Unacceptable behavior should be called out for what it is,” he added, “and Americans of all parties should insist on something far better in the leader of their country and the free world.”

McKean, 69, represents a swing area of eastern Iowa where Trump won convincingly in 2016. He said Tuesday that he plans to seek re-election as a Democrat in 2020. But asked by reporters how he plans to explain the change to his constituents, he said: “I fully expect there will be some ramifications.”

Indeed, Jeff Kaufmann, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, criticized McKean, saying he had made “a commitment to the voters” of his district, who had elected him as a Republican, and that by changing parties, he had violated their trust.

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which works to elect Democrats to state legislatures, praised the move. Its executive director, Jessica Post, called McKean “courageous” and noted that Democrats are now four seats away from taking control of the Iowa House.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.