On the eve of the Legislature's organizational session, another North Florida Democrat has switched parties and become a Republican.  State Rep. Will Kendrick of Carrabelle pulled the switch last Friday at his local elections office in Apalachicola, and announced it Monday.

"I've got two years left," Kendrick said. "It's up to me to do the most I can for those that I serve." He said he joined the GOP in part because the new House minority leader, Rep.Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, had not tried hard enough to secure a committee chairmanship or co-chairmanship for him.

"It's too bad they didn't try to utilize me more," he said. Soon afterward, he cast his first vote as a Republican, to help make Rep. Marco Rubio speaker.

Kendrick, 46, was just re-elected to his fourth and final House term without opposition. He was one of the most conservative Democrats in the House, and is remembered for being the only Democrat to vote for a Republican speaker, Tom Feeney, in 2000. His sprawling 10-county district runs from the Apalachicola River on the west, south to Otter Creek near Chiefland and east to Baker County near Jacksonville.

Kendrick's switch reduces the Democratic caucus from 42 to 41 members and boosts the Republican majority from 78 to 79. The move came hours before House Democrats were to celebrate their surprising success in the recent election (a net gain of seven seats) with the formal vote to make Gelber minority leader.