Ellington ‘95% sure’ he’ll switch to GOP

State Rep. Noble Ellington of Winnsboro, a prominent Democrat for more than 20 years in the state House and Senate, says he is likely to switch to the GOP. “I’m 95% sure,” he says. Two state senators, John Alario of Westwego and John Smith of Leesville, recently switched from the Democratic Party. Alario, a former two-time House speaker and a fixture in Democratic state politics for nearly four decades, says he made the change official last week. Ellington says he will probably make his final decision early next month. “I think at this point it would probably be hypocritical for me to remain in the Democratic Party because I find myself farther and farther away from what has become the liberal philosophy of the national party,” he says. “My way of thinking, which falls along a more conservative line, has been shrinking within the party. At least nationally, the Republican Party seems to fit my philosophy more than the current Democratic Party.” Ellington was a state representative before being elected to the Senate and is the 2011 chairman of the 2,000-member American Legislative Exchange Council. In April, Ellington lost a divisive battle for speaker pro tem, the No. 2 position in the House, by 53-48 to Rep. Joel Robideaux, an independent from Lafayette. Two days later, Ellington lost his assignment on the sought-after House and Governmental Affairs Committee that will oversee the redrawing of political districts next year. Ellington served in the state House from 1988 to 1995, and in the state Senate from 1996 until 2007. Term limits kept him from running for the Senate again, and he won back his old House seat.