NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) - North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee has announced that he is switching his political affiliation from Democrat to Republican, citing a shift toward socialism.
The mayor of Nevada’s third-largest city made the announcement Tuesday on “Fox and Friends.” His campaign website now reflects the switch, KVVU-TV reported.
“In the Democratic Party of Nevada, they had an election recently for leadership, and four of the five people were card-carrying members of the socialistic (sic) party,” Lee said. “It’s not the party that I grew up with 25 years ago in this environment, and it’s not the party that I can stand with anymore.”
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Lee was referring to recent elections for the leadership of the Nevada State Democratic Party, in which a slate of candidates affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America were elected to most of the party’s top leadership spots.
Lee has been mentioned as a possible candidate for governor of Nevada in 2022, the Review-Journal reported. He told the newspaper last week that he had been “approached by different people in both parties” to consider switching to the Republican Party and running as a moderate.
Lee didn’t indicate in the “Fox and Friends” interview whether he intended to run for governor.
Lee, who served in the Nevada Assembly and state Senate, was defeated by a Democrat, Patricia Spearman, in 2012. He won election as mayor the following year.
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