Texas Judge Leaves GOP, Will Run For State Supreme Court As A Democrat

[silvershadow]

Source: Huffington Post

A Texas judge announced Monday his decision to leave the Republican Party and run for the state Supreme Court as a Democrat.

Larry Meyers, a judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, will run for a seat on the Texas Supreme Court against Republican Jeff Brown.

“Judge Meyers decision to leave the Republican Party today is big news," Battleground Texas' executive director Jenn Brown said in a statement. "It shows that the Texas GOP continues to drive Texans away with their divisive rhetoric and extreme policies. And it puts the first of what we think will ultimately be many Democrats in statewide office again."

As the Dallas Morning News notes, the party switch makes Meyers the first Democrat to hold statewide office in Texas since 1998.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/09/texas-judge-leaves-gop_n_4415211.html

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more at link. While I am ok with those Republicans of conscience who see the light and switch, I am leery of those who are "carpetbagging" so to speak…Those who switch parties when they stick their wetted finger to the air. I am not sure which camp this one falls into.

[kristopher]

1. My first thought

It looks like a Republican tactic to cover both sides of a bet. No matter what they're going to get a Republican.
That said, I have no support except a mind that is suspicious of anything related to the Conservative movement. They simply have no scruples.

[SoapBox]

2. Me thinks it's good to be

suspicious.

[tofuandbeer]

3. I never trust a Republican turned Democrat. He'll have to prove himself first.

[truebluegreen]

14. Turned his coat once, can easily do it again.

[Orsino]

15. He has a record. I'd say he's already proven himself.

A party swap to get reelected is no evidence of any change of heart.

[merrily]

4. Time will tell which camp he falls into.

By then, though, he will have already either won or lost the election.

However, if I were in Texas, sticking my wetted finger into the air might tell me to stay Republican for a while more if I want statewide office. If I were running for a Houston office, maybe I'd go Dem now.

Just speculating.

[snot]

5. Yuck.

[Jamaal510]

6. Stories like these always make me cautiously happy.

On one hand, I take great pleasure in seeing the GOP's tent shrink. But on the other hand, there was a reason why they became Republicans in the first place, rather than Democrats. I'm OK with Republicans-turned-Democrats having a few moderate or right-leaning stances, but once about half of their views start to look Reagan-esque, that is when it becomes a problem because it could make the party shift rightward if too many of these types join and vastly outnumber those of us on the liberal-wing of the party.
This is surely something to think about.

[WowSeriously]

7. No! I am damn tired of the Democratic Party running Republicans as Democrats.

It's as if the Democrats are building and populating the Trojan Horse intended to take down their own party.

ENOUGH!

[Kablooie]

8. If the GOP was really smart they would secretly encourage Republicans to become Democrats.

If they got enough conservatives intrenched in the Democratic party they might begin to tear it apart.

[Gothmog]

9. This is good news

[Vogon_Glory]

10. Carpet-bagger? Maybe

Maybe Judge Meyers is a party-switching opportunist or maybe he's not. I don't know if there's enough evidence to say yet.

What I do know is that the Tea Party-driven Texas Republican Party primary system seems to be creating a crop of candidates and political platforms so extreme that many Texas moderate-conservatives and conservatives are having to face their own long dark nights of the soul and ask themselves if their Republican Party is representing them or their interests any more. Those of them that want a modern Texas or something better than pre-Jim Hogg Texas are likely to go someplace, and not to the Libertarians.

Like it or not, at least some of them are going to start voting and participating as Texas Democrats.

[Feral Child]

11. Even if he's sincere

he's still just somewhat less conservative than the GOP at large. We have enough centrists w/o adding a conservative to the party.

Also, a judge w/ a D is less usable than a Democrat congress-person or senator, especially if he's dragging rightist baggage along. He'll do less damage than a staunch republican, surely, but I can't imagine his decisions will be very progressive.

[Javaman]

12. Oh yayy...another Texan bluedog Dem. nt

[truebluegreen]

13. My first thought too.

Tents can be too big.