LINCOLN, Nebraska (LifeSiteNews) – Nebraska Republicans gained a new member Wednesday as Democrat state Sen. Mike McDonnell officially switched parties to the GOP a month after his former party censured him for his votes against the pro-abortion and LGBT agendas.
McDonnell holds a 100% 2016 voting record and 89% 2020 record with Nebraska Right to Life, putting him severely out of step with the Democrat Party. Last year, he drew particular ire from liberals for being the only Democrat in the Nebraska Legislature to support bills restricting abortion and prohibiting gender “transition” procedures for minors.
Last month, the Nebraska Democrat Party formally censured him, declaring his voting record “adversely affected the reproductive rights of Nebraskans and the rights of transgender individuals in the state.” the senator responded with defiance at the time, declaring, “I am a Christian! I am a lifelong member of the Roman Catholic Church! I am Pro-Life! The censure of me, from the Nebraska Democratic Party, will not change my Pro-Life vote!”
Now, the Nebraska Examiner reported that McDonnell has officially become a Republican, explaining that his former fellow party members’ failure to respect his “religious-based, pro-life position” made the party a place where he no longer believed he could reconcile his faith with his political alignment.
“Being a Christian, a member of the Roman Catholic Church and pro-life is more important to me than being a registered Democrat,” he wrote in a letter. “Today I am changing my party affiliation to Republican.”
“Things change over decades of time, and Mike has found his way home to becoming a registered Republican,” Republican Gov. Jim Pillen reacted. “We have to grow the Republican Party and bring numerous, numerous Nebraskans to the party who might not realize who they are.”
“As a lifelong Republican, I have appreciated that the Republican Party continues to be a big tent that welcomes a wide array of views,” Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert added.
McDonnell’s defection leaves Republicans with a 33-seat majority to Democrats’ fifteen (plus one unaffiliated “progressive” member) in Nebraska’s unicameral legislature. Crucially, that means the GOP now has the votes necessary to break legislative filibusters.
Current Nebraska law limits abortion to the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest, and medical emergencies as well as parental consent, a 24-hour waiting period, and informed consent. This status quo leaves almost 90% of preborn babies unprotected according to abortion statistics, but liberal Republican state Sen. Merv Riepe has proposed weakening it further still by adding an exception for “fatal fetal abnormalities.”
In addition, Nebraska is one of several states expected to see a ballot initiative this fall attempting to add a “right” to abortion to the state constitution that would prevent abortion from being prohibited until fetal viability or after viability if deemed necessary to “protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.”