A Pennsylvania sheriff who announced he switched political parties cited the “socialist agenda” of Democrats as one of the reasons for his decision.

Fayette County Sheriff James Custer told “Fox & Friends” on Monday that he moved over to the Republican Party due to the “shift in ideals of the Democratic Party at the national level.” With more than 30 years of experience in law enforcement,  Custer noted that factors such as Democrat leaders’ handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the calls to “defund the police” helped seal the deal for him.

“It probably started back when the pandemic started and the mandates coming down by the Democratic governors,” Custer told Fox News on Monday, explaining that he had been considering the switch for several months.

He contended that the “mandates coming down by the Democratic governors” such as Pennsylvania’s Gov. Tom Wolf, are “unconstitutional.”

(Source: Fox News)

“And as the sheriff, it is my duty as a constitutional sheriff to protect and serve, uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States and these unconstitutional mandates being brought down on our citizens and being able to protect their rights and freedoms under the Constitution,” Custer said.

“Starting back from the George Floyd incident and all the civil unrest and the calls for ‘abolish the police,’ ‘defund the police’ that was part of factoring into my decision that, ‘hey, this is not what I signed up for,’” Custer told Earhardt.

“And there’s plenty of people out there that are backing us, and that’s why I was one of 40 individual sheriffs here in the state of Pennsylvania to endorse President Trump as our law and order president. That was a big part of it at the time,” he told host Ainsley Earhardt.

Wolf announced a new set of coronavirus restrictions last week for Pennsylvania as the state is seeing a spike in the number of positive COVID-19 cases.

“Today I am announcing additional, temporary COVID-19 protective mitigation measures in the commonwealth,” Wolf said in a statement.

The new orders include a ban on all indoor dining, as well as the closing of gyms and indoor entertainment for a three week period. Indoor gatherings were also limited to 10 people for the weeks that will span the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

“With these measures in place, we hope to accomplish three goals: First, stop the devastating spread of COVID-19 in the commonwealth. Second, keep our hospitals and health care workers from becoming overwhelmed. And third, help Pennsylvania get through the holiday season – and closer to a widely available vaccine–as safely as possible,” Wolf said.

Custer and Fayette County District Attorney Rich Bower had announced the change in their political party affiliations back in September, according to the Herald-Standard. Westmoreland County Sheriff James Albert, a lifelong Democrat, also announced in September that he was backing Trump.

“The silence of the Democratic Party” during nationwide unrest, looting and “assaults on law enforcement” was “deafening,” Albert, who has been in law enforcement for more than four decades, told “Fox & Friends Weekend” in September that he was switching to the Republican Party.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Frieda Powers

Senior Staff Writer
[email protected]

Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

Latest posts by Frieda Powers (see all)

• WATCH: Pro-Palestine NYU protester does not know why she’s protesting – friend equally clueless - April 24, 2024
• Rubio: ‘Foreign aid’ bill provides over $3.5B to help bring migrants from the Middle East to US - April 24, 2024
• Jesse Watters: Biden forgives violinist’s screeching $250k student loan debt - April 24, 2024

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.