State Senator Ditches Dem Party After 40 Years To Become A Republican
A Nebraska state senator has switched to the Republican Party after being a Democrat for 40 years. State Senator Mike McDonnell said one of the main reasons he is switching parties is because of his anti-abortion stance.
The lawmaker said that his religious beliefs about the sanctity of life made Democrats “punish” him by taking away their support and having the state party’s main committee censure him.
“Today I’m announcing, I am now going to be a registered Republican in the state of Nebraska,” said, McDonnell, a former firefighter and union leader.
“I asked the Democratic Party in Douglas County to respect that I’m pro-life, that I’m a member of the Roman Catholic Church. And my beliefs are based on that,” McDonnell said. “Douglas County Democrats instead of respecting it, they decided to punish it.”
“They said you cannot participate, you can’t be a delegate, we’re not gonna share our party resources,” he added. “I continue to vote pro-life. The state Democratic Party decided to censure me. I continue to vote pro-life.”
The Nebraska Democratic Party, which censured McDonnell previously, pushed back on his claim.
“The Nebraska Democratic Party will continue to stand up for reproductive freedom and the human rights of the LGBTQ community. Our decision to censure Sen. McDonnell was never about him being a pro-life Catholic,” NDP chair Jane Kleeb said Wednesday in a statement.
“Our decision was based on our party reaffirming our core values to protect women’s ability to make health decisions and to keep politicians out of our personal health decisions. We respect the ongoing work of Senator McDonnell on behalf of unions and his commitment to protect a fair electoral vote system we have in our state,” Kleeb added.
“McDonnell’s switch, confirmed by Douglas County election officials, gives the GOP 33 members in a one-house Legislature. That’s a significant number in a 49-member body with rules that require 33 votes to overcome a filibuster. Democrats would then hold 15 seats, plus a progressive who is a registered nonpartisan,” the Nebraska Examiner reported. “The Legislature is officially nonpartisan and often splits along different fault lines than political party. On controversial votes, however, senators tend to vote more often along party lines.”
A recent poll of U.S. adults conducted in January 2026 found that 67% of respondents support legal limits on abortion, including restrictions on when the procedure can be performed, reflecting broad public backing for some level of regulation on the practice.
A similar majority also expressed support for laws designed to protect both mothers and unborn children.
The poll surveyed 1,408 adults nationwide, asking about support for legal limits on abortion, restrictions by trimester, and related issues such as protections for healthcare professionals who object to participating in abortions on religious grounds.
Among those surveyed:
- 67% said they favor placing legal limits on abortion, even if the procedure remains available in many circumstances.
- 57% supported limiting elective abortion to at most the first trimester in most situations.
- 63% said that healthcare workers with religious objections should not be required to participate in abortions.
- A strong majority also said laws can be written to protect both the mother and the unborn child.
The poll also found broad support for pregnancy resource centers that assist expectant mothers and families.
Despite the majority backing limits, the survey indicated that more Americans identify as “pro-choice” than “pro-life.” In the same poll, roughly 62% described themselves as pro-choice, while 37% said they were pro-life.
Director of the Marist Poll, Dr. Barbara L. Carvalho, noted, “Despite the publicly heated debates about abortion, there remains a consensus on this issue among Americans.” Her remarks underscored a surprising unity beneath the surface of a polarized topic, as reported by The Center Square.
Carvalho told the outlet, “Despite the publicly heated debates about abortion, there remains a consensus on this issue among Americans.”
“Americans believe abortion should be limited yet include exceptions for rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother,” Carvalho said.
Top DHS Special Agent And His Wife Found Dead
A Department of Homeland Security special agent and his wife were found dead in their New Jersey home in what appears to be a murder-suicide, prosecutors said.
Police in Sayreville responded to the couple’s home on Glynn Court around 8 p.m. July 3 and found Kelly Latauro, 46, dead inside the residence, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office said.
Her husband, 52-year-old Christopher Latauro, was discovered dead in the backyard.
Both appear to have been shot.
Authorities said Christopher is believed to be the shooter and the case is being investigated as a murder-suicide.
Police told residents to keep away from Glynn Court, from Deerfield Road to Scarlet Drive, briefly because of police activity.
The area was reopened about 40 minutes later, but police remained on scene.
According to NJ101.5, citing DHS records from 2019 and 2020, Christopher was a special agent for the Department of Homeland Security.
Authorities have not said what may have sparked the violence.
Kelly’s sister-in-law Robyn Perlman-Spencer confirmed her death in a Facebook post on July 7, remembering her in a heartbreaking tribute.
“As many of you may now know, my beautiful sister in law Kelly Iatauro was senselessly and suddenly taken from us on Friday. Kelly was a bright light- kind, thoughtful, hysterical, inappropriate, and just one of the most amazing people I’ve ever known. She left a lasting impression on anyone that was lucky enough to know her,” Robyn wrote in part.
Sayreville police confirmed officers responded to the Glynn Court residence on July 3 and found both people dead of gunshot wounds.
The incident is being treated as a murder-suicide, and Christopher is suspected to be the shooter, the spokesperson said.
The Department of Homeland Security and Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately respond to additional requests for comment on the case.
What began as a heavy police response to a deadly scene left two people dead and the quiet Middlesex County neighborhood stunned.
Investigators are still trying to piece together what happened inside the home leading up to the gunfire.
Separately, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin made headlines last week with an election-related announcement.
Mullin on Friday said officials who don’t cooperate with the administration’s election security efforts may be slapped with fines — and potentially prison time.
“If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections — and they chose not to — then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even, depending on how far it goes, prison time,” Mullin said during a press conference at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Mullin also promised DHS would work to “speed up our security enhancements” for states.
He vowed to hold up federal election security grants until state officials took steps the administration demanded, including running their voter registration lists through a system that checks for non-citizen voters on the rolls.
Mullin made his comments after President Donald Trump’s primetime address on election security Thursday night, when he repeated already known concerns about the security of voting systems, alleged Chinese efforts to get into voter rolls, and aired old gripes about the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
In his remarks on Friday, the DHS secretary focused on DHS’s work with states to secure election systems and scrub voter registration rolls for fraud and concerns about noncitizen voting.
The Justice Department also sent letters this month threatening prosecution to election officials across the country if they don’t remove noncitizens from their voter rolls.
On Friday, Mullin seemed to suggest that the agency was able to estimate the numbers using the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and said 23 states are already working with DHS to analyze voter rolls.
And he criticized the legal challenges that are hindering the administration’s efforts: Last month, a judge blocked the Trump administration from creating a database of information about Americans, including Social Security numbers and citizenship status.
