Rep Kevin Kiley made his name as a leading California Republican — but is now ditching the party to fight “extreme hyperpartisanship.”
Kiley said Monday he spoke to no one — neither Republican Party leadership nor House Speaker Mike Johnson — before deciding to register as an Independent ahead of a tough reelection bid, making him the sole rep unaffiliated with either major party in the House of Representatives.
“I think the extreme hyper-partisanship we have here is a big problem … it manifested itself in the longest shutdown in history,” Kiley said on a call with reporters.
“I had zero conversations with anyone” about the decision, he said.
The longtime conservative said he will continue to caucus with Republicans and stopped short of criticizing party leadership directly, saying his move to ditch his longtime party was motivated by “frustration with partisanship itself.”
“I will always answer to my constituents and not party leaders .. I’ve been willing to stand up to party leaders in Sacramento and Washington and been willing to work with party leaders,” he insisted.
“I’ll be an independent voice.”
The conservative Sacramento rep is facing an uphill battle to retain a seat in the House after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Prop. 50 morphed California congressional districts including CA-03, which Kiley represents.
Earlier this month Kiley said he would run instead in CA-06 after the Prop. 50 redistricting gave Democrats an 8-point advantage in his current district. He is competing against a splintered field of Dems that includes pediatrician Dr. Richard Pan, Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho; Planned Parenthood rep Lauren Babb-Tomlinson, and Martha Guerrero, the mayor of West Sacramento.
Kiley blasted the “redistricting war” that led to Prop. 50 and said he was disappointed by both parties’ inability to make progress on affordability, such as failing last year to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies and the 43-day government shutdown last year.
He pointed to his opposition to Trump’s tariffs on Canada and “state of emergency” rules in Congress as evidence that he’s not beholden to partisan whims.
He believes he can work across the aisle on issues like health care and housing, even if Democrats take control of the House after this year’s midterm elections.
Democrats are favored to win back the lower chamber of Congress due to widespread dissatisfaction with the Trump administration’s actions on the economy and immigration.
Asked whether he heard from President Donald Trump or House Speaker Johnson after quitting the Republican Party, Kiley declined to comment on “private conversations” but revealed that he had a brief call with Johnson over the weekend.