BLACK LOUISIANA SENATOR ELBERT GUILLORY SWITCHES TO REPUBLICAN PARTY

BLACK LOUISIANA SENATOR ELBERT GUILLORY SWITCHES TO REPUBLICAN PARTY:

HE WAS BORN BLACK, NOT A DEMOCRAT.

GUILLORY EXPLAINS WHY HE SWITCHED FROM DEMOCRAT PARTY TO SUPPORTING THE GOP.

Louisiana Senator Elbert Guillory (R-Opelousas) explains why he recently switched from the Democrat Party to the Republican Party. He discusses the history of the Republican Party, founded as an Abolitionist Movement in 1854. Guillory talks about how the welfare state is only a mechanism for politicians to control the Black community.

~ Elbert Guillory switches parties, now first Black GOP state senator since Reconstruction (CIRCA 2013)

Louisiana state Sen. Elbert Guillory has switched political parties to become the first black Republican senator in the state since Reconstruction. The now-former Democrat from Opelousas made the announcement Friday in Baton Rouge at the @large conference, an event aimed at attracting black conservatives to the GOP.

"Is it a surprise, or is it the worst-kept secret in Louisiana? I am, as of this day, joining Frederick Douglass as a Republican," Guillory said at the event, after accepting the group's "Frederick Douglass" award.

This isn't the first time Guillory has made the party switch -- he became a Democrat in 2007 when he first ran for the state House of Representatives. However, his voting record remained staunchly conservative.

Last year Guillory, who heads the Senate Retirement Committee, carried the bills containing Gov. Bobby Jindal's proposed retirement overhaul, which was strongly opposed by Democrats.

On Friday, Guillory said he had come to disagree with the direction of the Louisiana Democratic Party, which he referred to as "the party of disappointment." He expressed his opposition with the party's stances on abortion, the Second Amendment, education and immigration.

"Today, the party of disappointment has moved away from the majority of Louisiana.

They have moved away from the traditional values of most Americans," he said. "Their policies have encouraged the high teen birth rates, high school drop out rates, high incarceration rates and very high unemployment rates."

After the event, Guillory shed some light on his decision, saying remarks by the state party chair this week influenced his decision.

During debate Wednesday on a bill to expand Medicaid coverage in Louisiana, Sen. Karen Carter Peterson said fellow lawmakers had told her they based their opposition to the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, on the race of the president and not on policy.

"The accusations of racism this week certainly helped push me over the edge. I thought that they were over the edge," Guillory said in an interview Friday. "It just showed me just how far out of tune I was, I am, with the Democrat Party."

The remarks were made Wednesday, the same day Guillory filed his paperwork to change parties.

Speaking after Guillory at the conference on Friday, Louisiana Republican Party Chair Roger Villere again called on Peterson to resign as head of the state Democratic Party.

"The bottom line is that it's never appropriate to demonize and even infer someone is racist for disagreeing with the president," Villere said. "Trust me, we have plenty of reasons to oppose Obamacare and race is not one of them."

The Democratic Party reacted swiftly to the announcement, characterizing Guillory's defection "a craven display of political opportunism" and calling on him to resign.

"This move isn't surprising given Guillory's record of saying one thing to his constituents and then voting another way," Stephen Handwerk, executive director of the Louisiana Democratic Party, said in a statement Friday.

"He should do the right thing and step down from his seat immediately since he has chosen to abandon the Democratic Party values that the voters elected him to represent."

Katrina Jackson, head of the Legislative Black Caucus also responded to the news, saying Guillory remains a "full-fledged member" and that inclusion in the group is not based on political party.

Guillory will be the only Republican member of the caucus.

With just one week of the 2013 session left -- and with a conservative voting record as precedent -- it is unclear what impact, if any, Guillory's party switch will mean for this year's remaining legislation.

Republicans already held a majority of the 39 seats in the state Senate. With Guillory, their numbers will increase to 25.

Sources: NOLA.com, Youtube