Oregon State Representative Cyrus Javadi, who was elected as a Republican in 2022 and re-elected in 2024, announced Friday that he’s switching parties and running for re-election as a Democrat. On his Substack account Javadi wrote: “Had Enough? I Have.”
He added: “Being an elected leader has never been about party loyalty to me, it’s been about how I can best fight for our community and our state,” he explained. “Like the vast majority of my constituents, I support our constitution and the right to freedom of speech, support the rule of law, believe we have a moral obligation to treat people fairly and with respect, and believe that as elected leaders it’s our job to show up and govern, for the sake of ordinary people, not the interests of the powerful and well-connected.”
After the Substack announcement, as seen below, Javadi appeared on the local news show ‘The Big Shot,’ and was asked “What led up to your decision to switch parties?”
Javadi replied: “I’d say since Donald Trump got into office, I’ve been somewhat concerned, just the way he went about, trying to solve problems or burn things down, made me skeptical, but I kept hoping that the party would return to its basics, its fundamentals.”
Q: What led up to your decision to switch parties from Republican to Democrat?
Oregon State Rep. Javadi: Since Trump got into office, I’ve been concerned, but I kept hoping that the party would return to its fundamentals. The longer time’s gone on, the less I’ve been convinced… pic.twitter.com/nyER8welk0
— FactPost (@factpostnews) September 9, 2025
Javadi continued, saying that “the longer time’s gone on, the less I’ve been convinced that’s ever gonna happen. And after a long session of trying to solve what I think are pretty complicated problems, but also very important to the North Coast, and watching the Republican party continue to oppose almost every single one of those priorities, I determined that the party was moving on and I wasn’t going to move with it. And I was going to work with the party, the Democratic party, that was there for me over and over again to solve those problems that are important to Oregon and the North Coast.”
[Note: In office, Javadi has crossed the aisle more than once to vote with Democrats.]
Javadi wrote that after switching parties “My inbox filled with ‘traitor.’ Facebook comments labeled me ‘vile’ and ‘criminal.’ And that was just Monday. Honestly, if outrage were a renewable energy source, Oregon could power the grid with Republican Facebook comments alone.”