Six Democratic elected officials in Mississippi and two Independents have switched to the Republican Party. MPB's Kobee Vance reports on the concern over the party's increasing influence in state politics.
Cindy Austin and seven others are being welcomed into the Mississippi Republican Party.
Austin, a former Democrat, is the Chancery Clerk of Smith County. She says personal convictions about abortion, gun rights and military power spurred her switch.
"I just felt like the Democratic party was leaning further away from what I believed in, but I felt like I need to follow my conscience and what I believed in. It's not gonna change who I am, and I'm gonna be the same person, but, just for me, it's a personal conviction."
Mississippi's 3rd District Congressman Michael Guest says the conservative Democrats in Mississippi are finding more in common with Republicans than the national Democratic party.
"They do not believe in the things that we believe in. Limited Government, individual liberties, protecting our constitutional rights, and so those things that are important to people in Mississippi, I believe are more closely aligned with what the national Republican Party is offering, or is aspiring to move forward than the Democratic Party."
Democrats are expressing concern over the increasing influence of the Republican Party in the state government.
State Representative Earle Banks of Jackson-- is the Executive Vice Chair for the Mississippi Democratic Party. He believes Democratic policies are better for a poor state like Mississippi.
"Medicaid, Medicare, these are all social programs that have helped people, and Mississippi gets like three dollars for every one dollar that we send to Washington. And it's like, how can we say that we could survive if we didn't have the federal funding coming to Mississippi, the way our economy is now? It's not happening."
In November, Republicans in Mississippi gained control of all eight statewide offices, expanded their majority in the state Senate, and maintained a supermajority in the House.