Expanding Democrats’ massive advantage in the state senate, New Jersey Republican Samuel Thompson announced that he was leaving the GOP to run as a Democrat in his upcoming reelection campaign because Republicans suggested another candidate for the seat after questioning the 87-year-old’s fitness for office, NBC News reports.
“The betrayal by so many of my friends — that was too much for me. I am not leaving my Party. My Party leadership has left me,” Thompson said in an interview after Middlesex County Republican Chairman Rob Bengivenga told him he was supporting a challenger for the seat. Thompson’s transparty move increases the Democrats’ majority in the state senate to 26 seats in the 40-seat chamber.