A Republican House lawmaker is leaving the GOP effective immediately, cutting Republicans’ slim margin even thinner, his office confirmed to Fox News Digital on Monday.
Rep. Kevin Kiley, I-Calif., had already announced his intention to run as an Independent candidate in a Democrat-leaning district in the November midterms, but he is now deciding to take on the new political identity early.
“This last week, we registered under no party preference in California,” Kiley told local reporters, according to a recording obtained by Fox News Digital. “I’m also today asking the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives to have that reflected in the official roster…so I will be the sole Independent member of the House of Representatives.”
House Republicans are already dealing with a razor-thin majority of just one vote, which is expected to grow to a two-vote margin after a special election in a deep-red Georgia district this week.
Kiley said he would still caucus with Republicans, however, in order to retain his committee assignments in the House.
“The rules of the House of Representatives essentially force you, as an administrative matter, to caucus with one party or the other, which, by the way, I don’t think is a good thing,” Kiley said.
“For example, your committee assignments run through the parties, and so it really, you know, forces you to be associated in that administrative sense with one caucus or another in order to function and be able to serve your constituents in the House.”
The Impetus Was the Redistricting
Kiley made the decision after the congressional districts were redrawn.
Kiley had introduced legislation to ban mid-decade redistricting when both fights were ongoing .
He also carved out an independent streak months before formally dropping the GOP, becoming one of the party’s most vocal critics of Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for both refusing to wade into the redistricting fight and for keeping the House out of session during the entire 43-day government shutdown last year.
His new 6th district is now Democrat-leaning, but he feels the people are open-minded and that he can win.
Gerrymandering is a plague on democracy, one that Gavin Newsom has brought back to California. But there’s a way we can fight back and protect our democracy from his partisan games: by removing partisanship from the equation. Today, I filed for reelection as “No Party… pic.twitter.com/OhGDzKtPEp
— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) March 7, 2026
A traitor loser.