By Aristos Georgiou
Science and Health Reporter
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A legislator in Westchester County, New York, announced that he was switching allegiance from the Republicans to the Democratic Party on Friday.
David Tubiolo was the only remaining Republican in the County Board of Legislators, leaving the party with no representation there, News 12 reported.
Tubiolo, 32, said that his decision—apparently two years in the making—was partly influenced by the presidency of Donald Trump.
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"I'm not trying to demonize Republicans," Tubiolo said, according to News 12. "I'm just saying I feel more comfortable at the moment with the Democratic Party."
Aside from the President himself, Yonkers resident Tubiolo said that he believed in student debt and prison reforms, while also being pro-labor—views which were more aligned with those of the Democratic Party—Rockland/Westchester Journal News reported.
He also said that he identified with the so-called Rockefeller Republicans—moderate Republican members who were popular in regions like the Northeast and West Coast between the 1930s and 1970s.
"They slowly disappeared or they got pushed out of the party," Tubiolo told the Journal News. "I always viewed myself more of that kind of mold and I don't feel I have as much of a home anymore."
Tubiolo said he was making his decision now that so that he could register for the Democrats before a February 14 deadline passed for voting in April's Democratic presidential primary.
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"Any candidate is better than the president currently. So I would say any of the candidates currently, up until April, whoever's left is a wonderful choice and I believe they will be able to beat Donald Trump," he said, according to News 12.
Tubiolo's switch of allegiances was welcomed by Democrats in the state.
"This is the first time in history that we have not had a Republican on the County Board of Legislators. Did you hear that? Not a Republican on the County Board of Legislators!," Board of Legislators Chairman Ben Boykin, told News 12.
Unsurprisingly, local Republicans were not so impressed by Tubiolo's latest move.
Westchester GOP Chairman Doug Colety said in a statement: "David Tubiolo's party switch is a betrayal of the voters who in November elected a Republican with Republican values to serve as their County Legislator. One month into his two-year term, Tubiolo has abandoned the people and principles that brought him to victory. His action is a sad example of a politician gaming the system to advance his personal ambitions."
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