Had Enough? I Have.

Let’s not bury the lede: I’m switching parties. I’ll be running for re-election as a Democrat.

And before the conspiracy mills start cranking: no, it’s not because I lost a primary. No, it’s not because I binge-watched Rachel Maddow and saw the light. And no, I haven’t forgotten who I am, who I serve, or the values that got me here.

What’s changed isn’t me. It’s the party I once called home.

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The Breaking Point: June

By the end of the long session in June, my patience had worn thin. Every priority for Oregon’s North Coast, nearly every single one, ran into opposition from my own party. Protecting Medicaid benefits for the nearly 60% of children in Tillamook and Clatsop counties? Opposed. Keeping rural hospitals afloat? Opposed. Preserving students’ access to books that reflect who they are? Opposed. Protecting the First Amendment rights of people different from ourselves? Opposed.

Not because the policies were flawed. But because helping me deliver for my district didn’t fit the Republican Party’s agenda.

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The Outrage Olympics

The last week has been a crash course in modern political discourse. My inbox filled with “traitor.” Facebook comments labeled me “vile” and “criminal.” And that was just Monday. Honestly, if outrage were a renewable energy source, Oregon could power the grid with Republican Facebook comments alone.

At this point, I think some folks may actually have adrenal fatigue from how much rage they’ve burned through.

When I came back to work at the dental clinic on Tuesday, one of the windows had been smashed out. Coincidence? Maybe. Intentional? Possible. Either way, it felt like a reminder: politics isn’t just noise online. Sometimes it spills into the real world.

But here’s the real point: I expected it. The fury wasn’t a surprise. It was a confirmation. For months now, the Republican Party’s message has been simple: we don’t care what the problem is, just vote no, or else.

And for me, that’s a problem. Because I didn’t run for office to be a rubber stamp. I ran to solve problems. To fill potholes. To keep hospitals open. To build housing families can actually afford. To keep our homes and neighborhoods safe.

Good policy doesn’t need a party label. It’s good because the problem is real and the solution works, not because one side decides to bless it.

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Republicans I Know, the Party I Don’t

Let me make a distinction here. Most of the Republicans I know, my neighbors, my friends, many of my constituents, want good things. They want decent jobs, safe streets, a fair shot for their kids. But increasingly, the institutional Republican Party wants something else: spectacle.

I know many Republicans who still share my values, but the party apparatus is headed somewhere else entirely.

It’s not about governing. It’s about burning things down. It’s about isolating minority communities when politically convenient. It’s about waving the Constitution when it helps your argument and ignoring it when it doesn’t.

That’s not conservative. That’s opportunistic. And it corrodes everything it touches.

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Healthcare: The Provider Tax

Take healthcare. On the coast, nearly three out of five kids rely on the Oregon Health Plan. Adults? More than a third. That’s not theory; that’s survival. I knew the new administration in Washington might try to cut Medicaid. So when HB 2010 came up, a provider tax designed by providers to stabilize those dollars, I voted yes.

It should have been an easy call. Rural hospitals operate on a knife’s edge. With about 40% of patients on Medicaid, 40% on Medicare, and the rest uninsured or on commercial plans, losing even one stream of payment can mean closing an ER. Keeping hospitals and services in Tillamook, Seaside, and Astoria open and available required protecting those funds.

My caucus wanted a no vote. Why? Because they wanted to finish session without a single Republican supporting any tax, even a tax providers themselves supported to keep their doors open.

I voted yes. Almost all Republicans voted no. Democrats voted yes. They were willing to protect healthcare, even if it meant casting an unpopular vote.

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Roads: Sliding Off the Mountain

And then there are our roads. Drive Highway 101 and you’ll see patchwork asphalt stitched like a quilt. Highway 6? Sliding off the mountain. Highway 30? A death corridor with faded lines and blind intersections. Until last week, Highway 26 had a bump so bad it looked like a test track for The Dukes of Hazzard.

Ask Pacific City about the road that literally fell off the mountain. Or the residents on Miami Foley Road, who lost their shortcut to town when a culvert blew out. What used to be a 20-minute drive for groceries became a 90-minute odyssey. Need an ambulance? Good luck.

And don’t forget: in a Cascadia earthquake, nearly every bridge on the North Coast is forecast to fail. That’s not fearmongering; that’s math. If a tsunami follows, whole communities will be trapped.

So when the legislature debated a transportation package to fund repairs, the Republican caucus had already decided, back in January at a strategy meeting in Silverton, to oppose it. No matter what the bill contained. No matter what the need.

I voted yes. Every other Republican either voted no or stayed home. Democrats (minus one) voted yes. One Democrat, fighting cancer and weakened by treatment, fighting for her life, still wanted to come to the Capitol to cast her vote, because she understood what was at stake: keeping roads safe and preventing layoffs. She’s a hero. She knew that even a flawed package was better than letting our roads crumble while politicians argued about slogans.

Meanwhile, Republicans were busy lobbing rhetorical bombs to set up the next election. But here’s the irony: they’ll still drive on the roads kept safe by the very vote they opposed.

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Housing, Police, and Tourists

Tourism is both a blessing and a burden for the coast. Every summer, millions of visitors drive our roads, flush our water systems, and call on our emergency services. They leave behind memories, sure, but also wear and tear. Meanwhile, towns like Tillamook can’t even expand housing because the sewer system has already maxed out.

So I brought forward a plan: don’t raise the transient lodging tax (TLT). Just reallocate a portion of it, paid almost entirely by tourists, to help local governments fund roads, wastewater, and law enforcement, tailored to each community’s needs. Every mayor I talked to supported it. County commissioners supported it. The business community supported it.

Republicans opposed it. Democrats backed it. Why? Because one party chose to protect entrenched interests, while the other gave local communities the tools they need to survive.

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Books and Free Speech

Then came the so-called “book bill.” Republicans framed it as stopping pornography in schools, ignoring the fact parents already can challenge any book. The real issue was whether kids—gay kids like my son, Black kids, Muslim kids—could still find stories on the shelves that reflect their lives.

I voted yes. Democrats voted yes. Republicans voted no.

And here’s the thing: opposing this kind of censorship isn’t about being “woke.” It’s about being American. The First Amendment doesn’t exist to protect the majority view; it exists to protect the minority, the unpopular, the voices some people would rather not hear. Conservatives used to understand that silencing ideas is the first step toward the tyranny of the majority. I haven’t forgotten.

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The Recall Crowd

After session, a few disgruntled Republicans in my district filed a recall petition. Not because I wasn’t working for the district. But because I wasn’t working for the party. What they wanted was obedience. A yes-man. Someone to carry the caucus line, not constituents’ needs.

That’s not me. I didn’t sign up to be a party soldier. I signed up to represent the North Coast.

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Why Switch?

After long talks with my family, trusted advisors, and many of you, I’ve made my decision: Yes, I’m switching to the Democratic Party.

Not because Democrats are perfect, they’re not. But they’re acting like a governing party. They’re willing to debate ideas on the merits. To defend constitutional principles. To protect minority rights. To do the unglamorous, often thankless work of actually fixing things.

Time after time this past session, it was Democrats who stepped up to support the priorities of the coast, even though I wore the other team’s jersey. It didn’t matter to them. What mattered was whether the policy worked. Meanwhile, Republicans fought against those priorities, against the basic needs of our district. And somewhere along the way, it became clear this wasn’t just a bad season or a passing fever. The Republican Party had chosen a different direction, a different set of values.

By contrast, Democrats were the ones backing not only the needs of the North Coast but also the values I’ve always believed in.

Still, I’m the same person I’ve always been, a champion for Oregon and the North Coast. Does this mean I’ll only represent Democrats in my district or across the state? Absolutely not. I don’t care which party you belong to. I’m an Oregonian, and so are you. That’s enough. I’ll fight for your needs regardless of which bumper sticker is on your car or which flag you wave in your yard.

And my values haven’t changed. I still believe in limited government, free speech, fiscal responsibility, individual liberty, and the rule of law. I still believe your rights don’t come from the state but from something higher. But I also believe government has to work, not just posture.

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Enough Is Enough

I’ve had enough of politics as performance art. Enough of games designed to win elections instead of solve problems. Enough of leaders who’d rather go viral than go fix the roads.

Public service isn’t about applause lines or building social media followings. It’s about doing the quiet, steady, sometimes boring work of cutting red tape, making policy better, and ensuring Oregonians can live freely.

That’s what I’ll keep doing, for the North Coast, and for Oregon as a whole.

Had enough? I have. That’s why I’m running for re-election as a Democrat. To get things done, stop the games, and cut through the partisan BS.

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If you want more of this kind of thing: the longform, the rabbit holes, the occasional Dukes of Hazzard reference, then hit subscribe. It’s free, which makes it cheaper than therapy and less annoying than Twitter.

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And if you want to do more than read, you can help me keep fighting for the North Coast. Campaigns, unfortunately, don’t run on outrage alone, they run on resources. If you think this kind of politics is worth defending, consider pitching in to my re-election campaign. It’ll matter more than another yard sign in November.