Joel Giambra, a Republican state Senate candidate in New York, blasted the “current form” of the GOP as he introduced he’s leaving the social gathering and ending his marketing campaign for workplace.
On Twitter Wednesday morning, Giambra talked about a complete host of points for his resolution to exit the GOP, together with the social gathering’s attitudes towards the National Rifle Association, former President Donald Trump and “extreme thinkers who are unwilling to accept different points of view.”
“I cannot stand with party leaders who double down in their support of the NRA after yet another mass shooting; who applaud the decision to take away a woman’s right to choose & who encourage the elimination of LGBTQ rights; & who still believe that Donald Trump is their president,” he posted on Twitter.
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Giambra added that he “can no longer represent a party whose priorities I do not authentically support” and “stand with party leaders whose strategies I do not respect.”
Giambra instructed Newsweek that he’s not wanting to remove anybody’s proper to personal a firearm however accused Republicans of refusing to “speak up and make any changes in the face of hate crimes and mass shootings that are killing our children.”
On Monday, Robert Crimo III, 22, opened fireplace throughout a July 4 parade in a Chicago suburb killing seven and injuring dozens of others. Crimo has been charged with seven counts of first-degree homicide and is anticipated to be charged with “many” different crimes.
Most folks, Giambra instructed Newsweek, “are much more middle-of-the-road” in relation to gun management. He added folks “are angry that our children and families are being destroyed by gun violence, and that their right to their own bodies is taken away.”
Giambra additionally criticized each events, saying they’re “so polarized and are more concerned with talking loudly, raising money, and making headlines than they are with anything else.” Both events, he instructed Newsweek, twist phrases and arguments to “fit their tightly controlled narratives.”
He went on to say that he has hung out “behind the curtain and I don’t like what I see.”
In a follow-up tweet, Giambra slammed the Empire State’s GOP nominee for governor, Lee Zeldin.
“As an independent thinker who has always pushed against the status quo, it would be hypocritical of me to run on a ticket in November with the Republican nominee for Governor—who has said he would hire a pro-life health commissioner and would solicit an endorsement from Donald Trump,” he wrote on Twitter.
In response to Giambra’s departure from the GOP, New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s marketing campaign highlighted the timing of the transfer and likewise hit Zeldin for “his right-wing agenda,” in a press release to Newsweek.
“One week out from his nomination, Lee Zeldin’s own party is already abandoning him and his right-wing agenda,” mentioned Hochul Campaign Spokeswoman Jen Goodman. “In the months to come, New Yorkers from both parties will continue to reject Zeldin’s dangerous vision to bring more guns to our state, take away abortion rights, and drag New York backward.”
Newsweek reached out to the NRA and a consultant for Trump for remark.
Updated 07/06/2022, 2:52 p.m. ET: This story has been up to date with feedback from Hochul Campaign Spokeswoman Jen Goodman.