Former California State Senate Democratic Majority Leader Gloria Romero announced her decision at a press conference hosted by Republican commentator Steve Hilton, who livestreamed it on his X account. She was joined by several leading Republican legislators.

“In this Capitol behind me, I served as both Senate Democratic Caucus chair and the Senate majority leader. But today I say goodbye. Adios! I’ve had enough,” she said.

Romero recalled her role as the Democratic convention delegate for the Rev. Jesse Jackson, then for former President Barack Obama at three separate conventions. She said her heroes growing up were Democratic titans Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy.

“This is not the Democratic Party that I once championed,” she said. “I do not recognize it anymore, and I cannot continue. I changed my voting registration today as the sun was rising to Republican, which has, under Donald Trump, become the champion of working people … and indeed, I will vote for Donald Trump this fall.”

For her reasoning, she accused the Democrats of stifling democracy, going so far as to compare them to Latin American dictators. She said the party rigs primaries against candidates, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and executed a “political coup” against President Joe Biden.

Romero also hit the Democrats on women’s rights, criticizing the undermining of Title IX protections, and going too far on abortion. Immigration, crime, and the rising cost of living were topics of her criticism as well.

“But perhaps my biggest disconnect with my old party now has been over school choice, education freedom, and the right to have quality schools for all, especially as congressman Kevin Kiley and I have fought together, especially for school choice for poor and minority children who are trapped in chronically failing schools,” she added.

Romero concluded that she left the party “with sadness, but it is with the belief that this is best for the future. I stayed for as long as I could. I tried reforms, I spoke out, I voted. Today, I turn to the future. A land of opportunity and free speech. I am excited to join a party that was started by the greatest American, Abraham Lincoln, and the challenges of building a new great republic.”

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After leaving office in 2010, Romero has been increasingly critical of the Democratic Party. In a November 2021 op-ed for the California Globe, she warned about a decline of the party unless an overhaul was undertaken.

“As a lifetime Democrat, I am horrified to see a Democratic Party I once revered—a party that sent us to the moon and back and inspired a new generation of youth like me with messaging replete with opportunity, hope, optimism, and belief in working-class Americans—now on the path to irrelevance and political extinction across major swaths of our country,” she wrote.

A Northern California city council member is pointing to his state’s lenient policies on crime after he and a mayor were allegedly attacked and punched in a daytime attack by a homeless person.

Marysville City Councilman Dom Belza told Fox News Digital he and Mayor Chris Branscum, Chief of Police Christian Sachs, along with two congressional staffers for Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-CA, was downtown assessing damage to a historic building that had been recently devastated by a fire when the incident occurred Aug. 22.

“We were standing on the sidewalk near the site having a casual conversation. An individual was crossing at the crosswalk. And right as he got to the mayor, who had his back turned, the individual reached back and swung and hit him right square in the back,” Belza said. 

“There was no communication, no altercation. There was nothing that instigated the punch. It was just a complete random act of violence.”

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Mayor Branscum described the attack as “out of nowhere,” telling KCRA-TV that “I thought I was hit by a car.

“I was hit so hard. The next thing I know, there’s this guy sliding by me, running, and I yelled an expletive at him.”

Following the alleged attack, Belza said his “instincts kicked in” and he bolted after the fleeing suspect.

The suspect, who was later identified as 36-year-old Derek Hopkins, took off running after the incident.

“I saw the attacker take off running down the street, so instinct kicked in, and I ran after the attacker,” Belza said. “As I was gaining on him, and we were about halfway down the block, he turned around and saw me over his shoulder.”

The suspect was identified as 36-year-old Derek Hopkins.  (Yuba County Sheriff’s Department)

Belza said Hopkins stopped and came in for a second punch, successfully hitting him on the side of his head.

“After that, I engaged him and took him down to the ground and restrained him until the chief of police was able to get there. We held him in custody until he was officially arrested,” Belza said.

Hopkins is facing eight charges that include felony assault of a public official and felony elder abuse. His bail is set at $50,000.

Belza said the incident sheds light on the crime crisis happening in communities across California, as Democratic policies impact ordinary citizens and elected officials.

“In a bigger light and a larger picture of this whole situation, this is something that we’re dealing with on a regular basis,” he said. “Maybe not necessarily where an elected official gets attacked, but where there’s many more of these types of crimes and these types of attacks in communities across California.”

“This attack is really a result of the soft-on-crime policy that California has implemented.”

— Marysville City Councilman Dom Belza

“It speaks to a much bigger issue in the state. This attack is really a result of the soft-on-crime policy that California has implemented over the last 10 years,” he said.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, arrives for a campaign rally in Savannah, Ga., Thursday. Harris was California attorney general in 2014 when Proposition 47 was signed into law. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Belza zeroed in on Proposition 47, which was signed into law in November 2014 and reclassified six minor felony offenses as misdemeanors, including shoplifting of merchandise valued at less than $950 and drug possession.

“Prop 47 is the anchor of that soft on crime,” he said.

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He pointed to California’s attorney general in 2014 — Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee — as the leader behind the legislation.

“She was the one who really pushed this heavily, and since then, we’ve just seen crime go rampant in California,” he said. “I think we should all be really concerned that if she is running for president, or if she becomes president, that the entire nation is going to deal with the same issues that California is dealing with for the last 10 years.

“That should be a huge, huge concern for all of us.”

Along D Street in the politically conservative city of Marysville, Calif. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Belza said that despite his city’s small size, it has been forced to deal with the result of progressive legislation, like Prop 47.

“We’re a small community in Northern California, and we’ve been dealing with homelessness, substance abuse, vagrancy, loitering and vandalism,” Belza said. “One of our local coffee shops last year just randomly had a chair thrown through its window.

“We’ve just seen a huge increase in those types of crime, not to mention the increase in hard crimes, like murders.”

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In 2024, California reported that violent crime had significantly declined. Belza disputed the claims, saying the new classification of reporting crime has impacted the data.

“When you report it [crime] differently, it’s not necessarily that the crime is going down,” Belza said. “What used to be reported as a felony, now is reported as a misdemeanor, and what used to be reported as a misdemeanor is now reported as a lighter infraction crime.

“And so it’s not that crime has gone down,” he added. “I would say the reality is we’ve seen crime go up to the point where most of our residents in Marysville are afraid to go to the store. They’re afraid to walk down the street.

“Situations like this are proof that California is not a safe state and that these small, rural communities aren’t safe.”

— Marysville City Councilman Dom Belza

“And situations like this are proof that California is not a safe state and that these small, rural communities aren’t safe anymore,” he said.

“And that’s the real issue – people don’t feel safe,” he said. “I had a call from a lady that I know, an elderly lady in town, who went to the local (drug store) to pick up her medications. And as she was trying to get back to her car from the storefront, she was confronted by two individuals in the street that wanted to harass her. She doesn’t have anybody there to help her or to protect her.”

A view of the California Capitol in Sacramento. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for National Urban League)

Belza said communities in California have created coalitions to combat crime.

“Because of the results of what we’re experiencing with crime in California, the people spoke up. We got enough signatures to get Prop 36 on the ballot,” he said. “Prop 36 really changes what prop 47 did and brings serious ramifications for repeat offenders, especially in retail theft and especially in heavy drugs, like fentanyl.

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“I created an organization last spring called Free California, and it is designed to help partner state legislators and others that are trying to combat this issue on a policy level and also bring awareness to California residents to say that we the people can make changes to things that we’re not happy about. We have a responsibility to step up as California citizens and to help make this a safe state.”

The Harris campaign and LaMalfa did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — As another brutal heat wave moves into Southern California, it’s more than just the temperatures impacting local residents.

Poor air quality will also be cause for concern.

“Ozone, or smog, is the dominant summertime pollutant in Southern California. And that tends to form more readily under high temperatures,” said Scott Epstein, planning and rules manager of air quality assessment for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The extreme heat increases the amount of ozone pollution in the air which in turn negatively impacts our air quality.

“When temperatures are high you get a lot more evaporation of one of the compounds that form smog in the atmosphere, and you speed up the reactions that form smog as well, so we tend to see our highest ozone levels or smog levels on the hottest days of the year,” added Epstein.

As temperatures climb during the day so do ozone levels, so expect to see the worst air quality in the mid-to-late afternoon. These high levels can trigger breathing issues including asthma.

“Breathing high levels of ozone can cause serious respiratory issues such as asthma. It can aggravate respiratory conditions such as COPD, cause trouble breathing or other lung issues. So the most important thing on these days is to be aware of high levels of ozone. It’s not a visible pollutant,” said Epstein.

When conditions are bad try to minimize bringing what’s outside – inside.

“Keep windows and doors closed, run your air conditioner and air purifier and minimize things that bring outdoor air inside, such as a swamp cooler or a whole-house fan,” added Epstein.

The South Coast AQMD has issued an Ozone Alert for most of Southern California through Friday evening.