Seattle-area prosecutor, an elected Republican, flips to Democratic Party

King County, Wash., prosecutor Dan Satterberg, who was elected as a Republican, said on Tuesday that he is now a Democrat, The Seattle Times reported.

The three-term prosecutor for the Seattle-area county noted that the change is partly because he is facing his first reelection challenge this year.

His opponent, public defender Daron Morris, called Satterberg’s move “opportunistic.”

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In 2016, the office of King County prosecutor was changed to be officially nonpartisan thanks to a county charter amendment approved by voters. Both candidates will appear without party affiliation in the ballot.

Even though Satterberg pushed for the amendment, he said that people want “some kind of shorthand” to know a candidate’s beliefs, the Times reported.

“People want to know: ‘What do you think? Are you really a Donald Trump supporter?’ I am clearly not. My political views are much more in line with the Democratic Party nationally and locally, and so it is time to say it,” Satterberg said.

In the 2016 presidential election, President Trump won just 21 percent of the vote in King County.

Satterberg has said Trump’s policies have “embarrassed the country” and that he does not “subscribe to the philosophy of the president.”

He is now seeking the endorsement of Democratic political organizations and will list his party preference as Democratic on candidate questionnaires, The Seattle Times reported.

Morris said Satterberg’s move was motivated by “opportunism and fear,” noting that it happened after three local Democratic Party legislative organizations endorsed him, The Seattle Times reported.

Satterberg is the first King County prosecutor since 1948 to identify with the Democratic party.