News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Three Putnam County officials changed their party affiliation Tuesday.
Trustee Freddy Nelson, Road Supervisor Randy Jones and Register of Deeds Harold Burris all switched from the Democrat party to the Republican party.
Burris said the decision wasn’t a hard one.
“I’ve been thinking about it for awhile now, I just can’t support what the other side believes in anymore, like the abortion thing and the marriage thing, I think things are getting out of hand on the other side,” Burris said.
Road supervisor Randy Jones also cited the Democrat party’s platform as a reason.
“I was raised a Democrat, my dad and mom was raised Democrat, I was raised up in a Democrat family but the Democrat party has changed so much I don’t feel like I’m a part of it anymore. With my church family and the gay rights and all this, I don’t see the same way that they do anymore,” Jones said.
Trustee Freddy Nelson said more than one thing helped him make the decision.
“I’ll be honest, I’ve voted for more Republicans the last few years than I have anything else, and the people within that party have been really kind to me even when I ran as a Democrat and so they were really nice to me and really helpful and I think there’s just a lot of variables that came into play that made me make that decision,” Nelson said.
Putnam County Republican Party Chairman Cindy Schueman welcomed her party’s new members.
“I think the first thing that went through my mind since I’ve known them for years, is that it’s a transition that was heartfelt a long time ago because all of them feel like the Democrat party left them when the platforms change, and they do change and they do evolve, they wanted to join the party that reflected their beliefs and their positions more accurately,” Schueman said.
