Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan announced he is leaving the GOP and joining the Democratic Party, a move he says has been a long time coming as he has bucked heads with the Republican Party.

Duncan, who served as lieutenant governor as a Republican from 2019 until 2023, wrote in an op-ed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday that his path to becoming a Democrat began before President Donald Trump attempted to overturn his loss to former President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, which Duncan criticized at the time.

«My journey to becoming a Democrat started well before Donald Trump tried to steal the 2020 election in Georgia,» Duncan wrote in the newspaper.

«There’s no date on a calendar or line in the sand that points to the exact moment in time my political heart changed, but it has,» he continued. «My decision was centered around my daily struggle to love my neighbor, as a Republican.»

GEORGIA GOP EXPELS FORMER LT. GOV. GEOFF DUNCAN FROM PARTY, CITING ALLEGED DISLOYALTY

Duncan pointed to several policy issues that played a part in his decision to change parties, criticizing Republicans for their handling of issues such as health care, Medicaid, gun safety, immigration and how to help poor people.

He said his time in office taught him the best way to «love my neighbor» is through public policy. Before his time as lieutenant governor, he served in the Georgia House from 2013 until 2017. He opted not to run for re-election as lieutenant governor in 2022. 

The former Republican said GOP lawmakers have argued for decades that the solution to not having health insurance is to have a job, but noted that most uninsured people in the Peach State live in working households yet do not have insurance because of affordability or eligibility. 

«So, the reality is they have a job, just the wrong job,» Duncan wrote. «One that doesn’t offer health insurance or generate enough spare money each month to afford their own health insurance plan.»

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Duncan served as lieutenant governor as a Republican from 2019 until 2023. (Getty Images)

Duncan also said the Trump-backed spending bill that was signed into law last month will leave Medicaid funding «in shambles,» as it cuts hundreds of billions of dollars from the government program. He also criticized the measure for its cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known as food stamps, and its impact on ensuring children do not go hungry at school.

Duncan pointed to polls showing support for gun control measures such as universal background checks and red-flag laws.

He also criticized the Trump administration’s mass deportation immigration policies that he said «have turned into a lesson on how not to love your neighbor.» He said that immigration policy should focus on securing the border, deporting those in the country illegally who have committed felonies, but that a path to citizenship should be created for other migrants in the U.S. 

Duncan’s party switch comes after the Georgia Republican Party expelled him from the party earlier this year over alleged disloyalty. The party’s resolution cited his endorsement of Biden in the 2024 presidential election and, once he dropped out, his endorsement of former Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as alleged efforts to undermine and sabotage some Republican candidates, including current Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and failed 2022 Senate candidate Herschel Walker. 

The former Republican also spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August in support of Harris.

The Georgia Republican Party expelled Duncan from the party earlier this year over alleged disloyalty. (Ben Hendren/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Duncan has been a fierce critic of Trump and the Republican Party in recent years, particularly since the president’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

«The list of reasons why I’m now a Democrat continues to grow,» Duncan wrote. «Most importantly, my decision puts me in the best possible position each day to love my neighbor.»

El presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, celebró este jueves la entrada en vigor de una nueva serie de aranceles dirigidos a decenas de países, consolidando su estrategia comercial basada en el proteccionismo y el uso de tarifas aduaneras como instrumento de presión económica.

La medida, efectiva desde la medianoche de EEUU, forma parte del nuevo esquema de comercio exterior con el que el mandatario busca, según ha expresado, “reestructurar el comercio en beneficio de los trabajadores estadounidenses”.

En un mensaje publicado en su red Truth Social, Trump escribió: “¡Es medianoche! ¡Miles de millones de dólares en aranceles fluyen hacia Estados Unidos ahora!”, subrayando el momento en que se activaron los recargos. Además, reiteró que los nuevos aranceles permitirán que “Estados Unidos vuelva a ser grande y rico”.

Las tarifas se aplican de forma diferenciada según la balanza comercial bilateral. Países con los que Estados Unidos mantiene superávit seguirán enfrentando un arancel mínimo del 10%, mientras que aquellos con déficit serán sujetos a recargos entre el 15% y el 41%.

Entre los más afectados figura India, que recibirá un 50% total: 25% aplicado desde este jueves y otro 25% dentro de tres semanas. Trump justificó la sanción por “la compra continua de petróleo ruso” por parte de Nueva Delhi.

El caso de Brasil también fue destacado. Pese a tener superávit con Washington, algunos productos, como el café y la carne, enfrentan un arancel adicional del 50%. El mandatario asoció esta decisión con el proceso judicial contra el ex presidente Jair Bolsonaro, a quien considera una víctima política. En julio, Trump afirmó: “Bolsonaro está siendo perseguido por defender la democracia. Es una caza de brujas”.

México, por su parte, obtuvo una prórroga de 90 días para renegociar sus términos comerciales. Mientras tanto, la mayoría de sus exportaciones están sujetas a un 25%, salvo los productos protegidos por el Tratado entre México, Estados Unidos y Canadá (T-MEC).

Trump también anunció nuevas medidas en sectores estratégicos. Este miércoles declaró que impondrá un arancel del 100% sobre chips y semiconductores, aunque aclaró que “si la compañía fabrica en estados unidos, no hay ningún recargo”.

Respecto a los productos farmacéuticos, adelantó que iniciarán con un arancel reducido que escalará gradualmente: “inicialmente vamos a colocar un pequeño arancel sobre los productos farmacéuticos, pero en un año, año y medio como máximo, subirá al 150% y luego al 250% porque queremos que los productos farmacéuticos se fabriquen en nuestro país”, dijo esta semana a la cadena CNBC.

La próxima fase de la ofensiva está marcada para el 12 de agosto, fecha en que expira la tregua comercial con China. Ambas potencias mantienen reducciones recíprocas —10% sobre productos estadounidenses y 30% sobre bienes chinos—. Trump indicó que la continuidad del acuerdo dependerá de su evaluación personal: “la decisión final está en mis manos”.

Mientras el gobierno proyecta ingresos adicionales por la vía de las tarifas, surgen interrogantes sobre su impacto en el consumo. Según una encuesta de Morning Consult/The Century Foundation, publicada el 31 de julio, el 83% de los estadounidenses expresó preocupación por el precio de los alimentos.

Trump, sin embargo, sostiene que los beneficios serán mayores a los costos. En declaraciones recientes afirmó: “Entra tanto dinero que consideramos un pequeño reembolso”, aunque no ofreció detalles sobre su implementación. También apuntó: “Lo más importante es saldar la deuda”, en referencia al pasivo público, que a comienzos de agosto superó los 36,8 billones de dólares.

(Con información de EFE)

A Senate Republican renewed his push to federalize Washington, D.C., following an attack on a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer and President Donald Trump’s threat to put the District under federal control.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has long called for control of Washington to fall under Congress, going so far as to introduce the Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident (BOWSER) Act, named after D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, in an effort to combat crime in the District.

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The bill, which Lee introduced alongside Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., has not made it out of committee since being dropped in February. But Trump’s highlight of an attack against former DOGE staffer Edward Coristine, also known as «Big Balls,» has resurrected the discussion.

«The Constitution already federalizes D.C.,» Lee said on X. «We just need Congress to do its job — and reassert its lawmaking power over our nation’s capital city. My bill, the BOWSER Act, would do that.»

Fox News Digital reached out to Lee for further comment.

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Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., arrives for the Senate Republicans leadership election in the Capitol on Nov. 13, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Lee’s bill would effectively repeal the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, a law passed in the 1970s that established a city council and mayor and reduced the amount of oversight that Congress has over the city and its affairs.

But calls have grown by lawmakers over the years to increase Congress’ oversight of the city, largely centered on concerns over increased crime and criticisms of attempts to rewrite the District’s criminal code.

And Trump jumped into the discourse, too, threatening that if «D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City.»

«Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of Violent Crime,» Trump said on his social media platform, Truth Social. «If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City.»

Fox News reached out to Bowser’s office for comment but did not immediately hear back.

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DC Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Zack Smith, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a former prosecutor, told Fox News Digital that in the past, the D.C. council has pushed «policies that have made it much more difficult for law enforcement, for prosecutors, to do their jobs and keep citizens safe.»

Bowser and the D.C. Council have, for several years, worked to update the District’s criminal code. However, changes to the code that would have severely lowered sentencing for a variety of crimes that were at first vetoed by Bowser were on the precipice of becoming law before Congress and former President Joe Biden overrode the reforms.

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Smith noted that Congress still has the authority to legislate the District, meaning that lawmakers and the federal government are «still the backstop,» and that both Trump and Lee were right to call for a «reevaluation of the District’s status.»

«That’s why Congress was able to step in and overturn that proposed radical rewrite of the Criminal Code,» he said. «And so what the BOWSER Act would actually do, if it repeals home rule, it would essentially change the way the local D.C. government functions. It might involve Congress and the Federal Government taking a more direct role.»

«I think there is broad and in some ways bipartisan consensus that the current system in D.C. is not working as it should,» he continued.