Rep. Kevin Kiley (Calif.) announced Monday that he will formally leave the Republican Party this week to become an independent..
Rep. Kevin Kiley (Calif.) announced Monday that he will formally leave the Republican Party this week to become an independent.
Kiley had previously announced that he will run for reelection in the midterms as an independent. But he accelerated the process on Monday, saying he will file a letter with the House clerk immediately to drop his identification as a Republican for the remainder of the current Congress.
“I will be the sole independent member of the House of Representatives,” Kiley told reporters Monday during a virtual press conference. “We’re going to be submitting the letter to the clerk today.”
Optically, the switch is another setback for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other GOP leaders, who currently have a paper-thin majority and are scrambling to defend it in November’s elections.