“I’m a social justice, anti-death penalty, seamless garment, pro-life Catholic”

Mark Miloscia, the man targeted in an anti-Catholic smear during the campaign, won his race for Washington state senate Tuesday night, and has given an interview about his life and politics—and why he switched from Democratic to Republican—to Aleteia: 

What I liked about the Democratic Party is that Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. came from a faith perspective. I don’t know any more if a Catholic like RFK or even his brother John could be in the Democratic Party, because activists told me you must be shoving theocracy down our throats. You’re a bigot, a homophobe. You hate women.

Catholics in JFK’s day used to represent a large part of the party. But when I was a Democrat, I was told I had to evolve [and become a cultural liberal]. They evolved. Barack Obama evolved.

Forget the big tent. They say they don’t have a litmus test, but they do. Of course, I understand that parties bring in new people and take out people in their coalition. But if you’re not good on the social issues, it doesn’t matter, and I had a 92 percent voting record with labor … The millennials are mostly hard core left. They have no tolerance for people of faith. They’ve sort of drunk the Kool-Aid.

I’m a social justice, anti-death penalty, seamless garment, pro-life Catholic.

What type of Republican are you?

I’m not very sure. If you read ‘Faithful Citizenship,’ [a document of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops] it’s clear we don’t really fit into either side. I’m a fiscal conservative. I will raise taxes, but if it had better be for a good cause.

There’s much more. Read it.