Chicago City Wire

Radio host Dan Proft is showing support for Georgia District 56 state Rep. Mesha Mainor, a former Democrat who announced her decision to switch parties and become a Republican after feeling abandoned by her Democratic colleagues.

"Welcome, Mesha," Proft said on the July 12 episode of the Chicago's Morning Answer radio show. "Happy to have you and your leadership on ending discrimination in education against kids based on their zip code and their household income. That's a Black female former Georgia Democrat who could teach some current Illinois Democrats and Republicans a thing or two.

"It's interesting the two issues that she discussed. She was on Hannity last night talking about her move, but formalizing what you could see coming a mile away because there's just no place in the Democrat Socialist Party for Mesha Maynor, even though she's a Black woman. She has the identitarian qualities, but again, broke from orthodoxy on two big issues. Three, actually, when you heard her comparing the lack of support for providing scholarships to minority families like she represents, as compared to migrants who went for this country illegally."

Mainor criticized the Democratic Party for taking the support of the Black community for granted and pledged to continue her work across party lines, a FOX News report said this week. Her switch follows a similar move made by former Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones in 2021.

"When I decided to stand up on behalf of disadvantaged children in support of school choice, my Democrat colleagues didn’t stand by me," Mainor said in a statement, quoted by FOX News. "They crucified me. When I decided to stand up in support of safe communities and refused to support efforts to defund the police, they didn’t back me. They abandoned me.

"For far too long, the Democrat Party has gotten away with using and abusing the black community. For decades, the Democrat Party has received the support of more than 90% of the black community. And what do we have to show for it? I represent a solidly blue district in the city of Atlanta. This isn’t a political decision for me. It’s a moral one."

In 2022, Black conservatives and moderates—including ten Black Illinoisans—issued a national Open Letter calling for the de-racialization of political speech and condemning racist attacks on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas following the overturning of the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights case, according to Wirepoints.

The Black conservatives argued that public dialogue had become coarsened and racialized, and that diverse perspectives and tolerance should be extended to all without resorting to accusations of racism or sellout when differing opinions are expressed. The letter addressed the need to focus on issues that affect Black Americans, such as failing schools, criminal justice systems and growing crime in their communities.

Democrats faced a decline in Black voter turnout in the 2022 midterm elections, potentially costing them their House majority, a May Los Angeles Times report said. Black voter turnout in the 2022 midterm elections experienced a significant drop of approximately 10 percentage points compared to four years earlier. Latino turnout also saw a notable decline of approximately 5 percentage points.