Longtime State Lawmaker Quits Democratic Party: ‘It Has Become Untenable and Counterproductive’

After watching the Democratic Party drift away from her and rural Kentuckians like her, Kentucky state Sen. Robin Webb has turned her back on the ones who did so to her and changed her party enrollment from Democrat to Republican.

“While it’s cliché, it’s true: I didn’t leave the party — the party left me,” Webb said, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Webb noted back in 2022 that rural Kentucky no longer seemed to matter to party leaders.

“I rarely get the feeling that they’re trying to engage people like me,” Webb said then. “That’s demographics, and I get it. We disagree on a lot of issues. They bypass me, and that suits me just fine.”

In a statement announcing her change of parties, she said the Democratic Party left her and her constituents in its dust.

Longtime Kentucky state Democratic Sen. Robin Webb, has flipped to the GOP saying that the Democrat party had left her.

With the party’s historic low approval rating, we may see even more of this. pic.twitter.com/XPfguTXryE

— David Joe May (@TheGrayRider) May 30, 2025

“The Kentucky Democratic Party has increasingly alienated lifelong rural Democrats like myself by failing to support the issues that matter most to rural Kentuckians,” Webb said, according to the Kentucky Lantern.

“As the Democratic Party continues its lurch to the left and its hyperfocus on policies that hurt workforce and economic development in my region, I no longer feel it represents my values. It has become untenable and counterproductive to the best interests of my constituents for me to remain a Democrat.”

Webb noted that while the Democratic Party has morphed into something it never was, her core values “have not changed,” according to the Courier-Journal.

“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,” Webb said, adding, “I look forward to continuing to focus on sound policy with rural Kentucky’s best interests in mind.”

Republican Party of Kentucky Chairman Robert Benvenuti said, he “always respected that she approached issues in a very thoughtful and commonsense manner and that she never failed to keenly focus on what was best for her constituents.”

“Like countless other Kentuckians, she has recognized that the policies and objectives of today’s Democratic Party are simply not what they once were, and do not align with the vast majority of Kentuckians,” Benvenuti said.

Senate President Robert Stivers, a Republican, said, “We value Robin’s voice and experience and are excited to have her as part of the Senate supermajority.”

Republican National Convention Co-Chair KC Crosbie said, Webb’s change of parties “continues a growing trend of rural Democrats who feel left behind and disillusioned by a party that no longer values them or prioritizes the issues most important to their families.”

Kentucky Democratic Chair Colmon Elridge was not as enthusiastic.

“Sen. 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,” Elridge said. “If those are her priorities, then we agree: She isn’t a Democrat.”

Webb has represented District 18 in the state Senate since 2009 after previously serving in the state’s House of Representatives.

The state Senate now has six Democrats among its 38 members.

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