“My Decision Puts Me In The Best Possible Position Each Day To Love My Neighbor”: Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan Officially Joins Democratic Party

Former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan — who publicly opposed Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia — has officially switched his party affiliation to Democrat.

In an opinion piece for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Duncan detailed his break with the Republican Party, citing deep disagreements with much of Trump’s agenda, including sweeping deportation plans and major cuts to social safety net programs enacted through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

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

Duncan, who served as lieutenant governor from 2019 to 2023, said he struggled to reconcile his Republican identity with the Christian command to “love thy neighbor.” Ultimately, he concluded that GOP policies failed to meet that moral call.

“My decision puts me in the best possible position each day to love my neighbor,” he said.

He pointed to Georgia’s 11.4% uninsured rate — with 85% of those uninsured living in working households — as evidence of systemic barriers to affordable health coverage. He highlighted the Medicaid coverage gap, where people earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but still can’t afford private insurance.

According to Duncan, Medicaid expansion in Georgia is now more difficult due to a $911 billion reduction in funding over the next decade, part of the cuts included in Trump’s signature spending legislation.

Duncan also criticized the bill’s cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and condemned Republican resistance to passing red flag laws or universal background checks for gun buyers, despite polls showing broad public support.

“Sounds like the best way to love our neighbors in this instance is to pass meaningful gun legislation in Georgia that does more than nibble around the edges of a national crisis,” Duncan wrote.

He further denounced Trump’s push for mass deportations, calling the policy “heartless” and “pointless.”

Duncan’s formal shift to the Democratic Party follows his expulsion from the Georgia GOP last year by the state party’s executive committee, which barred him from attending Republican events.