Former CA Senator Gloria Romero Will Vote For Trump

I hear people all the time uh people you may not expect say you know we need something different this isn't working I hear it from Democrats people haven't been particularly involved in politics there is something happening people are looking for an alternative and the second thing I want to say specifically about Gloria Romero we got to know each other a few years ago we really connected over something that is very much at the heart I think of this California Revolution we both um similar backgrounds in one sense my parents are Hungarian immigrants to the UK and that story of upward Mobility for workingclass people it's very much at the heart of the California Dream and something that we've been losing and losing here in this state and that's where Gloria and I really connected we've been talking about it for many many years now she joined my organization golden together um she's been a great adviser on many of the policy papers we've put out on that story of upward Mobility for people in California restoring the California Dream and especially when it comes to the Latino Community because that of course is a community that's been hit particularly hard by the policies we have going on right now in California we just worked together on a report along with Chapman University in Orange County Al futuro es Latino and that is true for California and Gloria understands that better than most so on a personal level on a professional level it is such an honor and a joy to introduce to you now Senator Gloria Romero thank you Steve thank you so much it's an honor to be here and thank you all for being here today let me just acknowledge before I give my official remarks if we take a look over here a lot of tents and activity here uh this is the annual recovery convention and I think to some extent it kind of expresses what I feel today my Pathway to recovery so I salute them for being here I had a chance to talk with some of them but I am former Senator Gloria Romero and today I am announcing that I am leaving the Democratic party I was a democratic convention Delegate for the Reverend Jesse Jackson way back then and President Barack Obama at three different conventions between the two I was the California co-chair for then Senator President Obama in California in my household FD R JFK uh uh RFK these were heroes in my household and I vividly remember where I was when it happened when the kennedies were assassinated dreams were dashed The Quest For Hope however never extinguished in this Capital behind me I served as both Senate Democratic caucus chair and the Senate majority leader but today I say goodbye adios I've had enough I am now another near lifelong Democrat who is joining the growing number of people including key groups like Latinos who are leaving the Democratic party this is not the Democratic party that I once championed I do not recognize it anymore and I cannot continue I changed my voting registration today as the sun was rising to Republican which has under Donald Trump become the champion of working people the big tent and indeed I will vote for Donald Trump this fall while there are several issues that I could highlight for this action let me just list some that are most prominent the so-called party of democracy eradicated 14 million votes including mine in order to install its preferred candidate vice president Camala Harris but even before that the Democratic P primaries were so rigged so as to prevent viable candidates like RFK Jr from jumping into even campaign lawfare was utilized at the end similar to Latin American dictatorships the Vaso was used to tap who the political Elite and the big donors wanted to run a political coup in my opinion was was essentially executed I have run as have others be uh here with me today I have run for office in the past and what message does this send that if the donors and the elites don't like you they can simply replace you with the candidate of their choice at any moment for any reason undermining any semblance of democracy and the voters will I cannot take that indeed I believe the Democratic party has taken a giant leap to authoritarianism and censorship it was President Reagan who warned that if fascism comes to America it will come as liberalism and as a former member of the Executive Board of the Southern California ACLU individual freedoms are trapped silenced by authorit authoritarianism and censorship that is not me it is terrifying to see how language has been modified so that as a feminist and a former professor at California State University I today would be condemned for saying that I can define a woman and distinguish between biological sex and gender identity this is the so-called party of women which has eradicated got it great job this is the so-called party of women which has eradicated Title 9 protections for sports equity for women while I am pro-choice I will not support a party that advocates for abortion to full term also I am a mother and as a Latina I refuse to call myself a birthing person the Democratic party has become the party of censorship authoritarianism and love locking people up for free speech the Democratic party has abandoned our veterans at home to send millions and millions overseas today the Republican party has become the party of Peace while the Democrats have marched towards endless war today's Democratic party and vice president Harris specifically have refused to speak the names of the 13 American soldiers whose lives were sacrificed for a photo op in the horrific botch withdrawal from Afghanistan anyone who has ever buried a young soldier in war can feel the pain of that and I say Clarence Grio from my hometown I went to his funeral in Vietnam the Democratic party has turned its back on the working class becoming the party of the elites and big buck donors we see daily Democratic leaders lecture the people as to how to live their lives under the burden of covid-19 climate change and rampant inflation while they out of touch with Californians Feast at The French Laundry crime has spiraled out of control grocery prices have soared some 39% of Americans say they've skipped Mills to make housing pay payments as a Latina a Mexican am I know my history my family was here before the Border crossed us in 1848 I have long Embrace Pathways to citizenship but I reject what has become a mockery of citizenship and the throwing open of our Southern border by the ineffective border Zar and the inept sleeping on the beach Biden people around the world flock to America and we should insist what citizens ship means but perhaps my biggest disconnect with my old party now has been over school choice education freedom and the right to have quality schools for all especially as Congressman Kevin Kylie and I have fought together especially for school choice for poor and minority children who are trapped in chronically failing schools they remain trapped even while the most powerful special interest funnels money to keep this not as a public education system but a public works system that functions as jobs for adults in the system damning the kids and stifling their American dream and the ticket that lifts them out of poverty in the meantime Democrats continue to get that money into their campaign War chest the Democratic party thrives off of this failure shamefully locking away way even as our children fall farther and farther behind in Reading Writing and the ability to compete internationally at our universities where I have taught I've seen Jewish students threatened I went to aushwitz some years ago and no one can ever step inside that crematorium of what's left of it and come back to America and say that it is okay not to remember yet here in our hallowed campuses of UC Berkeley or uccla where Steve Hilton and I went recently it has been horrific I watched TV images with horror of women being kidnapped blood dripping from them on October 7th and the Democratic party has forsaken Israel to capture the Hamas caucus of Congress and one swing state in closing let me say I have seen the best of America a nation that went to the moon and even Beyond but our American Landing has become like quicksand today under a Democratic party that is sinking the hopes and lives of too many politically unconnected Americans livelihoods being destroyed or killed by drug Warfare due to an open borders and B an e economy that none of us should want or embrace the Democratic party positions itself as the party of Freedom Liberty and democracy all the while it has become 1984 in 2024 so today I am leaving the Democratic party it is with sadness but it is with the belief that this is best for the future I stayed for as long as I could I tried reforms I spoke out I voted it today I Turn To The Future a land of opportunity and Free Speech I am excited to join a party that was started by The Greatest American Abraham Lincoln and the challenges of building a new great Republic that will take all of us to today I joined the Republican party yes to make America great again and I am ready to do my part as America prepares to vote vote I thank the many many who are with me today and others who couldn't be here who have welcomed me into this new big tent and I do feel free at last thank you thank you so welcome welcome to Gloria uh we've got a fantastic array of people here who are going to add their welcome to mine and we're going to start with someone who seems to be taking a break from his main job of holding Gavin Nome accountable on social media and that's a Kevin Kylie over to you Kevin well thank you very much and uh thanks to Steve uh for bringing us all together today uh Steve is a incredible leader and a critically important voice uh for finding uh constructive solutions to the emic problems that make life a lot more challenging than it needs to be uh for so many Californians and thank you to uh to Gloria to Senator uh Romero for this uh tremendous Act of Courage she mentioned how we've work together uh on education reform I'm uh a former High School teacher she's been a tremendous Champion uh for Education reform uh and she's absolutely right that we have a public education system that is failing far too many kids we saw it during the covid school shutdowns which lasted longer here in California than anywhere but the problem is more deeply rooted than that we have far too many schools where kids are not being taught to read are not being given uh the skills that they need uh to be successful in life we have shameful achievement gaps throughout this state especially in cities like San Francisco uh and Los Angeles and so she is someone who has been fighting to bring the sort of reforms that have succeeded and opened up opportunities in other states so today is first and foremost an opportunity uh to welcome Gloria and uh to recognize uh the tremendous example she's setting but I think it's also uh symbolic of what's going on across California you know everywhere I go in my district and across the state I have more and more people who tell me look I have not traditionally been a republican I may not necessarily agree with the Republican party on every issue but things have just gotten far too one-sided in this state they've gotten out of whack out of balance and it's created all these problems when it comes to the cost of living the cost of housing the cost of energy when it comes to Crime when it comes to homelessness and so many other issues and so I think what you see it emerging is a coalition for common sense for restoring balance uh for uh creating a more balanced system here uh in Sacramento cuz people recognize that things just work better that way and the thing is when you have more balance then the two sides have to work together and we can actually get bipartisan Solutions uh to a lot of these problems so I think this is a great day for California uh I want to welcome uh Senator Romero and thank you for setting an example that I think a growing number of Californians are going to follow