Gary Kendrick, an El Cajon City Councilman since 2002, Monday announced he has formally left the Republican Party and will run for re-election as a Democrat.
According to the San Diego County Democratic Party, Kendrick, “once a lifelong Republican who was elected with 85% of the vote in his last election … has come to recognize that today’s Republican Party is no longer grounded in the economic or personal well-being of the people he swore an oath to serve.”
The East County city is governed by a five-member city council, on which the mayor also sits.
“Moments of consequence call for clarity and action, which is why I am formally renouncing the Republican Party and joining the Democratic Party,” Kendrick said. “I’m in this fight to protect El Cajon from the far-right radicals who threaten our way of life. Together, we will restore El Cajon as a city where children walk to school without fear, where mothers seek medical care without terror, and where every family can call the police when they need help.”
Last month, Kendrick joined anti-Immigrations and Customs Enforcement protesters who gathered outside City Hall following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis. He broke with the majority as well last year voting against an ultimately successful resolution declaring El Cajon not a “sanctuary city.”
Kendrick was the longest-serving Republican in municipal office in San Diego County.
County Democratic leaders applauded Kendrick for his decision.
“Our party is a coalition party made up of people from all walks of life, who have come from different lands, different faiths and who have differing opinions on many things,” County Democratic Chair Will Rodriguez-Kennedy said. “But we are united in the fight for justice and opportunity for all. Councilmember Kendrick saw injustice and he chose to speak out. He saw hate and he chose love, and when he saw the cruelty of oppression, he chose to fight.”
El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells, an outspoken conservative, did not immediately comment on Kendrick’s news, but did defend his stance about sanctuary cities and the city’s use of automated license plate readers being shared with federal agencies on the San Diego-based One American News Network last week.
“If we start picking and choosing which laws we support and which laws we don’t based on feelings or politics, we are setting ourselves up for anarchy,” he said.
In October, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued El Cajon for allegedly violating state law by sharing the ALPR data with federal authorities and law enforcement officials in more than two dozen other states.
Bonta issued a statement saying the practice of sharing the data raises privacy concerns and could be used to track immigrants, women who might travel to California for reproductive care, or protesters.
City News Service contributed to this article.
