Beth Fukumoto who was removed from her leadership position in the Republican party for criticizing US President Donald Trump has defected to the Democratic Party in the state of Hawaii.
The Hawaii lawmaker was unanimously approved by a committee set up to consider her application to join the Democrats and was received with open arms by the political party, a spokesperson for the Democrats said.
Colleagues angered because of comments about Trump
As reported on Yahoo News, Fukumoto was the minority leader in the Hawaii House of Assembly. She was regarded as an upcoming star in the Republican Party, but her comments about President angered her colleagues in the House.
The lawmaker had called Trump a bully and racist. She made the statement at the Women’s March in Honolulu in January.
Fukumoto left her Republican Party to the Democratic Party after she received a unanimous vote by the Democrats, which is the final stage of being a bonafide party member. The Hawaii Legislature now has only five Republicans out of 76 lawmakers.
She said her reason to dump the Republican Party was based on her colleagues’ response to her comment about President Donald Trump at the January Women’s March, and her belief that there needed to be more disapproval of some of the views of the President by Republican.
Republicans condemns defection
The lawmaker said the Republican Party was no longer comfortable for her, and that she has no place in the party anymore.
However, a former Chairman of the Republican Party Fritz Rohlfing condemned Fukumoto’s decision to dump the party.He described her action as lacking integrity to the party that brought her to the political landscape. Rohlfing said Fukumoto ought to have resigned her seat in the House so that someone else in the party could replace her.
Overwhelmed by massive support
Fukumoto said she consulted her constituency before taking her final decision to dump her party. She said the majority of the people supported her action. She added that she received an overwhelmingly positive response from people around the country. Her office was filled with letters from people all over the country thanking her for speaking out on what many people felt, she said.
The Hawaii lawmaker said she was honored to have received massive support for her decision to switch parties. She said even if it means getting booed for taking the right decision she was determined to take that path.