“Since I’ve served in our state’s Capitol, I’ve had a front-row seat to witness the supermajority push California in the wrong direction, having a grave effect on our once golden state,” she said. “I cannot stand by a party that ignores the will of the people and disregards the core American values that my very community supports and believes in.”

[Marie] Alvarado-Gil gave her first interview on Thursday night, saying she switched despite being a Democrat her whole life.

“It was the right thing to do,” she said. “I’ve been a Democrat my whole adult life. … The Democratic Party of today is not the Democratic Party that I signed up with as a new voter. The pendulum has swung so far to the left that it has disengaged from what true Californians value.”