Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter has switched from the Republican to the Democratic Party, which could grant Democrats a 60-senator majority, enough to override or dissuade Republican attempts to stop legislation.
Specter said in a statement that his move is a reaction to a rightward shift in Republican politics, which he said influenced 200,000 Pennsylvania voters to switch from the Republican to the Democratic party, and brought the party out of line with his own beliefs.
After he voted to support Barack Obama’s stimulus bill, Specter said in a statement, “I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine-year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate. I have not represented the Republican Party. I have represented the people of Pennsylvania.”
University student Daniel Ronan, who worked for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in Philadelphia, said Specter was unlikely to win reelection, which he faces in 2010.
Specter’s former colleagues in the Republican Party said his decision was driven by fears that he would be beaten by former Congressman Pat Toomey in a primary election.
Though College Republicans Chairman Aaron Polk agreed with his fellow Republicans’ analysis of Specter’s motives, he said the University’s largely liberal student body would be happy with the consequences.
“There will be a more positive vibe on campus,” Polk said.
The switch makes Specter the Senate’s 59th Democrat, which means the party’s majority will reach 60 if Minnesota’s Al Franken is seated. A state court ruled that Franken had won a disputed November Senate race against incumbent Norm Coleman, but Coleman has appealed the ruling.
“Some would argue that we’re at 59 right now, but I think Sen. Coleman can drop that dream,” Ronan said.
[email protected]