‘Being a Christian member of the Roman Catholic Church and pro-life is more important to me than being a registered Democrat.’
Nebraska state Sen. Mike McDonnell has announced that he’s switching party affiliation from Democrat to Republican, citing his Christian faith and views on abortion.
Mr. McDonnell made the announcement in an April 3 statement to local media outlets, citing the Democratic Party’s opposition to his pro-life stance.
“When I ran for reelection in 2020, I was pro-life,” he said, adding that he’s Catholic and recalling that in 2016, he ran as a pro-life candidate for Nebraska’s fifth legislative district.
“I have asked the Democratic Party to respect my religious-based pro-life position. Instead, over the last year, they have decided to punish me for being pro-life.”
Mr. McDonnell said that, because he opposes abortion, Douglas County Democrats voted not to seat him as a delegate and not share party resources, while the state Democratic Party voted to censure him for his pro-life views.
“Being a Christian member of the Roman Catholic Church and pro-life is more important to me than being a registered Democrat,” he said, adding that he was switching to the GOP effective immediately.
The Nebraska Democratic Party issued a statement in response to Mr. McDonnell’s party change, expressing “respect” for his work with the party while denying that the censure vote had anything to do with his pro-life views.
“The Nebraska Democratic Party will continue to stand up for reproductive freedom and the human rights of the LGBTQ community,” Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb said in the statement.
“Our decision to censure Sen. McDonnell was never about him being a pro-life Catholic. Our decision was based on our party reaffirming our core values to protect women’s ability to make health decisions and to keep politicians out of our personal health decisions.”
Ms. Kleeb said that she and her Nebraska Democrat colleagues “respect the ongoing work of Senator McDonnell on behalf of unions and his commitment to protect a fair electoral vote system” in the state.
Mr. McDonnell’s party affiliation switch could signal that Nebraska may be headed for a major change as Republican leaders have expressed support for a move to a winner-take-all system for allocating the state’s Electoral College votes.
By Tom Ozimek
