Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter said he is leaving the Republican Party and will run for re-election in 2010 as a Democrat, increasing the odds that Democrats will achieve a filibuster-proof majority to push through President Obama’s agenda.
Specter was facing a tough Republican primary challenge from conservative former Rep. Pat Toomey, until recently the head of the anti-tax Club for Growth.
But the five-term senator didn’t cite Toomey’s challenge as his reason for quitting the GOP. In a statement issued about noon, he blamed his former party for becoming too ideologically driven.
Arlen Specter
“Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right,” he said, noting that more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats last year.
Specter’s shift gives Democrats 59 votes in the Senate, and they’ll reach a filibuster-proof 60 votes if Al Franken prevails in his disputed win over Republican Norm Coleman in Minnesota - enough muscle to push through the president’s health-care reform proposals, for instance.
The news appeared to shock Senate Republicans, who had been counting on their ability to block Democratic proposals. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, called an emergency meeting of party leaders.
“Senator Specter didn’t leave the G.O.P. based on principles of any kind,” Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in a statement. “He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record. Republicans look forward to beating Senator Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don’t do it first.”
Democrats, however, were jubilant. President Obama was handed a note about Specter’s decision at 10:25 a.m. on Tuesday during his daily economic briefing, according to the New York Times.
Seven minutes later, he reached Specter by telephone. In a brief conversation, the president said, “You have my full support,” according to an official who heard the phone call. The president added that Democrats are “thrilled to have you.”
Specter had been importuned by several leading Democrats, among them Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and longtime friends Vice President Joe Biden and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.
The move brings Specter full circle since he had been a registered Democrat when he first ran for district attorney of Philadelphia in the mid-1960s, though he ran on the Republican line. His record in the Senate has been that of a moderate who has conservative views on crime and national security, but who is liberal-leaning on abortion, illegal immigration and the environment.
In his statement, Specter insisted he would not be a straight-line Democratic voter, any more than he had been one for the GOP, noting his intention to continue to oppose a bill that would make it easier for workers to unionize.
“I will continue to be guided by President Kennedy’s statement that sometimes Party asks too much,” he said. “When it does, I will continue my independent voting and follow my conscience on what I think is best for Pennsylvania and America.”
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