'To Love My Neighbor': Geoff Duncan’s moral case for becoming a Democrat

Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan delivers remarks at a Republicans for Harris campaign rally in Washington Crossing, PA. (Photo by Matt Bishop/MediaPunch)

Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a prominent figure in Republican politics for a decade, has made a dramatic break with his party, announcing that he is joining the Democratic Party.

In a candid op-ed for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Duncan explained that the decision was years in the making, born of a deep and widening rift between his personal values and the GOP’s policy positions. While the move did not come as a shock to many in Georgia’s political circles, Duncan’s own account offered a clear and detailed look at his reasoning, presenting the change as a moral and practical choice.

“My journey to becoming a Democrat started well before Donald Trump tried to steal the 2020 election in Georgia,” Duncan wrote, underscoring that the shift was not a reaction to any single event but the culmination of long-term reflection. He said the driving force behind the change was moral, grounded in his “daily struggle to love my neighbor, as a Republican” — a principle he increasingly found at odds with the policies and priorities of the party.

Duncan identified several key areas where his beliefs diverged sharply from the GOP’s agenda: health care, Medicaid expansion, gun safety, and immigration. On health care, he criticized the Republican assumption that having a job means having adequate health insurance. “Many Georgians who work simply have a job, just the wrong job,” he noted, pointing to the large number of workers employed in positions without benefits.

He condemned budget cuts to Medicaid and SNAP (food stamps), which he argued leave too many children hungry — a reality he described as fundamentally incompatible with the ideal of a compassionate society.

Duncan also took aim at the party’s resistance to gun reform, citing overwhelming public support for universal background checks and red-flag laws. These measures, he said, enjoy strong polling numbers yet face consistent GOP opposition.

On immigration, Duncan called for a more humane and balanced approach, one that secures the border while also offering a pathway to citizenship for law-abiding migrants — contrasting this with the aggressive enforcement tactics favored by many Republicans.

Throughout his op-ed, Duncan framed his decision as both conscience-driven and pragmatic. “The list of reasons why I’m now a Democrat continues to grow. Most importantly, my decision puts me in the best possible position each day to love my neighbor,” he concluded.

Duncan’s departure from the Republican Party marks a significant political shift, not just for him personally, but also as part of a broader pattern of figures rethinking their affiliations in an era of intense partisan polarization. His public embrace of the Democratic Party reflects an explicit rejection of policies he believes harm the most vulnerable and a reaffirmation of a governing philosophy rooted in empathy, fairness and problem-solving. In his view, the Democratic Party now offers the best vehicle to pursue those goals.