Kentucky state Senator Robin Webb announced she is leaving the Democratic Party to become a Republican on Friday.
Newsweek reached out to Webb and the Kentucky Democratic Party for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Webb’s announcement leaves Democrats with only six of 38 seats in the Kentucky state Senate. Party switches are relatively rare in American politics, but she is believed be the fourth elected Democrat to leave the party following President Donald Trump‘s victory in November 2024 and the eighth to leave the party since the beginning of 2024.
What to Know
Webb, who was the last Democrat representing Eastern Kentucky in the state Senate, announced the party switch in a statement released by the state GOP Friday morning.
“While it’s cliché, it’s true: I didn’t leave the party—the party left me,” Webb said in the statement. “The Kentucky Democratic Party has increasingly alienated lifelong rural Democrats like myself by failing to support the issues that matter most to rural Kentuckians.”
She wrote that she no longer felt the party represented her values amid a “lurch to the left” and a “hyperfocus on policies that hurt workforce and economic development” in the region, which is known for its coal industry.
She added that her values have not changed—only the “letter next to [her] name.”
AP Photo/Adam Beam, File
“I will continue to be a fearless advocate for rural Kentucky and for the residents of eastern Kentucky who have been so good to me and my family,” she wrote. “I want to thank President Stivers, my colleagues in the General Assembly, and the Republican Party of Kentucky for the warm welcome. I look forward to continuing to focus on sound policy with rural Kentucky’s best interests in mind.”
Webb was first elected to the state Senate in 2009, previously serving in the state House of Representatives for more than a decade. Eastern Kentucky, once more competitive, has become increasingly conservative in recent decades.
She, at times, embraced more conservative views than other Democrats in the state legislature, siding with Republicans in 2023 on a bill that would prohibit transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming care, reported The Lexington Herald Leader.
She worked as a coal miner until she was 25, NPR reported in 2006. She later became a lawyer and joined state politics.
In the state Senate, Democrats are left with representation only in the Louisville and Lexington areas, following her party switch.
What People Are Saying
Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge wrote in a statement provided to Newsweek: “Senator Webb has chosen to join a political party that is currently working around the clock to take health care away from over a million Kentuckians, wipe out our rural hospitals, take food off the table of Kentucky families and take resources away from our public schools. If those are her priorities, then we agree: she isn’t a Democrat.”
U.S. Representative James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, wrote to X (formerly Twitter): “Congratulations to my dear friend Sen Robin Webb for switching parties. Like so many good honest people with common sense who work hard and pay taxes, the Democrat party has abandoned them. Robin will make an excellent addition to our great Kentucky State Senate Majority!”
What Happens Next
Webb is next up for reelection in 2026 if she chooses to run again. Eastern Kentucky voted handily for Trump in the 2024 race, so the race is not particularly likely to become competitive. Kentucky is likely to remain a solidly conservative state in the foreseeable future.
