Cyrus Javadi, an Oregon Republican state legislator, announced on his Substack that he has switched to the Democratic Party and will be seeking reelection on the Democratic ticket next year. In his post, Javadi stated that the Republicans he knows “want decent jobs, safe streets, a fair shot for their kids.” But the current Republican Party wants “spectacle.”
“I know many Republicans who still share my values, but the party apparatus is headed somewhere else entirely,” says Javadi in his Substack post. “It’s not about governing. It’s about burning things down. It’s about isolating minority communities when politically convenient. It’s about waving the Constitution when it helps your argument and ignoring it when it doesn’t. That’s not conservative. That’s opportunistic. And it corrodes everything it touches.”
During the most recent Oregon legislative session, Javadi supported a resolution honoring Black drag performers and became the only Republican to vote for a bill prohibiting discriminatory book bans in June, according to Them.
He referenced his gay son as to why he voted for Senate Bill 1098, which was passed by the Oregon House of Representatives, that prohibits school libraries from removing books based on their being about, or by, a member of a protected class as defined in Oregon’s anti-discrimination in education law. Those protected classes include: race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, age, and disability via News from the States.
“Then came the so-called ‘book bill,’” says Javadi. “Republicans framed it as stopping pornography in schools, ignoring the fact parents already can challenge any book. The real issue was whether kids—gay kids like my son, Black kids, Muslim kids—could still find stories on the shelves that reflect their lives. I voted yes. Democrats voted yes. Republicans voted no.”
Them reported voters who have been critical of Javadi voting record in the past have grown to see Javadi in a different light. The outlet referenced Ketzel Levine, an Oregon voter who previously criticized Javadi publicly for his stance on abortion. She told the Oregon Capital Chronicle in July that she had grown to consider him more than another “knee-jerk, anti-abortion conservative,” but would only consider voting for him if he shifted his position.
“I am beginning to trust him in a way that I never did before, and I would like to think that what I’m seeing now is a more compassionate and a more genuine representative, and not such a consummate politician,” says Levine, per the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
Others have been dismayed that Javadi did not vote with the Republicans. However, this hasn’t prevented him from changing his mind on his decision; instead, he expresses his desire to represent the people rather than party interests.
“After session, a few disgruntled Republicans in my district filed a recall petition,” says Javadi. “Not because I wasn’t working for the district. But because I wasn’t working for the party. What they wanted was obedience. A yes-man. Someone to carry the caucus line, not constituents’ needs. That’s not me. I didn’t sign up to be a party soldier. I signed up to represent the North Coast.”
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