To some of his colleagues and constituents, state Rep. Cyrus Javadi has been voting like a Democrat for months.

Now the former Tillamook Republican has made it official.

Javadi announced Friday that he switched his registration to the majority party this week, ahead of a Sept. 4 deadline to do so in order to run as a Democrat in next year’s election.

“Being an elected leader has never been about party loyalty to me,” Javadi said in a statement. “It’s been about how I can best fight for our community and our state.”

The switch is partly a reflection of political reality. Javadi, a two-term lawmaker and dentist by trade, voted with Democrats on hot-button issues repeatedly during this year’s five-month legislative session.

He backed a bill that makes it more difficult to ban controversial books in schools, penning a lengthy reflection about his views on the issue on his substack account. He also supported a resolution honoring Black drag performers when some in his party refused even to attend the vote.

Most damningly for many in the GOP, Javadi was the only Republican to cross the aisle earlier this week to vote in favor of Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek’s package of tax and fee hikes to fund road maintenance. The vote was decisive: Without Javadi’s yes, the bill would have died.

The vote was all but certain to make Javadi’s path to reelection as a Republican difficult — something he acknowledged on the chamber floor.

Political observers were already predicting a GOP primary challenge in which Javadi was likely to overwhelmingly lose his bid for the party nomination — a not unfamiliar occurrence for Republicans that stray from party orthodoxy.

Following the transportation tax vote, Javadi wrote on substack that he’s been labeled as “vile,” a “criminal,” and a “traitor.” But he said he’d already grown leery of his party’s values by the time the regular session closed in late June.

“Every priority for Oregon’s North Coast, nearly every single one, ran into opposition from my own party,” Javadi wrote. “Protecting Medicaid benefits for the nearly 60% of children in Tillamook and Clatsop counties? Opposed. Keeping rural hospitals afloat? Opposed. Preserving students’ access to books that reflect who they are? Opposed. Protecting the First Amendment rights of people different from ourselves? Opposed.”

Javadi concluded that he has not changed. He believes his party has.

“Time after time this past session, it was Democrats who stepped up to support the priorities of the coast, even though I wore the other team’s jersey,” he wrote. “It didn’t matter to them. What mattered was whether the policy worked.”

But Javadi may not be an obvious or entirely easy fit in the Democratic party, either.

While he has gained influential friends with that tax vote — it’ll save hundreds of jobs for members of unions that back Democrats — he holds some views at odds with many Dems. The Oregon Capitol Chronicle noted in July he has sponsored legislation to limit abortion access.

The switcharoo means Democrats will have an even larger majority in the House during next year’s short session: 37 of the chamber’s 60 seats.

This story will be updated.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/09/05/oregon-state-representative-cyrus-javadi-switches-parties-now-democrat/