North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee announced on Tuesday morning that he has left the Democratic Party after a “socialist” takeover of the party in the state of Nevada and has joined the Republican Party because he believes it is the party of the working class, opportunity, and freedom.
Lee made the announcement on his campaign website and then joined Fox News’s “FOX & Friends” to discuss it, saying that the Democratic Party is run by “card-carrying socialists” in the state.
The Nevada Democratic Party “had an election recently for leadership, and four of the five people were card carrying members of the Socialist 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 I can stand with anymore.”
Lee said that the Democratic Party has abandoned the working class and is an elitist party that does not support individual liberty.
On his campaign website, Lee said that he made the switch in his heart “a long time ago” and warned that Democrats “demands a senseless devotion to cancel culture, socialism, and anti-American values.”
Lee warned that Democrats have embraced an “extremist agenda” that is “radically” different from what the party used to be. “Their ideas hurt working class families, restrict freedom, and extinguish opportunity for millions of Americans – particularly working class minorities who deserve the chance to give their families a better life,” Lee wrote. “The Republican Party that’s emerged from President Trump’s leadership is a working class party of opportunity, freedom, and hope.”
WATCH:
TRANSCRIPT:
STEVE DOOCY, FOX NEWS HOST: Our next guest says the Republican Party is the party of the working class, opportunity, and freedom. And that’s why the mayor is leaving the Democratic Party for the Republican Party. And North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee joins us right now. Mayor, good morning to you.
JOHN LEE, NORTH LAS VEGAS MAYOR: Good morning, Steve, nice to see you.
DOOCY: It’s nice to see you as well. You say the Democratic Party is now being run by admitted socialists and that’s why you had to get out.
LEE: I’d say card carrying socialists and in the Democratic Party in Nevada, they had an election recently for leadership, and four of the five people were card carrying members of the Socialist Party. It’s not the party that I grew up with 25 years ago in this environment, and it’s not the party I can stand with anymore.
DOOCY: And the Democratic Party you grew up with was the party of the working class. But you don’t see that anymore.
LEE: No, the working class, the working men and women of this country, and also the small business owners are not a part of the conversation anymore, it all has to do with the elitist and it has to do with the socialists. That is not the agenda that I have in mind for this country and the future.
DOOCY: Yeah. Mayor, what do people out there in the Las Vegas area, think about how Joe Biden is remaking the federal government into a gigantic, much bigger jobs program?
LEE: Well, you know, we’ve had issues out in the West here with COVID. And, you know, the tourism, hospitality and gaming industry, but we are not for expanding the government to even bigger and more intrusive into our lives. That’s not what we want out west and we’re not going to accept it anymore.
DOOCY: What about higher taxes? You know, they’ve talked about raising taxes on people who make over $400,000 a year for a couple or corporate taxes. There are a lot of big corporations out there in Vegas.
LEE: There are and those taxes are very important. A lot of taxes are taking out of people’s pockets are taxes that we kind of need to run our local governments and stuff. They’re not giving any opportunity about families saving for their future, for their children’s education, it’s all about them and their socialistic values and that doesn’t work.
DOOCY: Real quickly, are your friends surprised you’re switching parties?
LEE: I would agree that they probably are but you know, when you’re a pro life Democrat, a pro gun Democrat, and you’re a very conservative person. That’s not really well known in the Democratic Party anymore. And so for me to hang on, as long as I did, hoping the party would change. It didn’t, it got worse. So therefore, I found a new place that I can put my allegiance to and help once again, forget about the last eight years. It’s the next four years that predict the future.
DOOCY: He’s a brand new Republican. John Lee North Las Vegas mayor, sir, thank you very much.
LEE: Thank you very much.