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On one hand the defection of a former state representative from the Republican party to the Democrats should be an embarrassment for the GOP, but it really speaks more to the sad state of Florida’s Democrats that people are already mentioning that state rep as a possible Charlie Crist running mate.
Former state Rep. Ana Rivas Logan announced today that she’s leaving the GOP and registering as a Democrat, partially because of her former party’s stance on immigration. However, people are already buzzing about her potential electoral future.
“The GOP of today is not the party I joined,” Rivas Logan told the Miami Herald. “It’s not the party of my parents. It’s a party that has been radicalized and held hostage by a group of extremists.”
Rivas Logan had previously served on the Miami-Dade School Board from 2004 and 2010 and was elected to the state House in 2010 from District 114. Redistricting, however, forced her into a primary against fellow Republican state Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, which she lost.
“Because I don’t vote party line, because I don’t tout the boys’ agenda — the good ol’ boys in Tallahassee — I’m being targeted,” Rivan Logan said during that campaign, so her frustration with the Republican Party of Florida establishment isn’t quite new.
Though, a tweet from fellow Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist already has some speculating about her future.
Granted, Curbelo may just be grabbing an obvious opportunity for a Republican to take shots at the Democratic party. Rivas Logan tells the paper it would make absolutely no sense for the Democratic Party ticket in 2014 to be headlined by two former Republicans.
Update: Not to mention the fact that state-wide candidate must be registered with their party for a year in order to be eligible.
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