Republican state Treasurer Barbara Hafer, who endorsed Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, Philadelphia Mayor John Street and Allegheny County Chief Executive-elect Dan Onorato, made it official Tuesday.
Hafer announced her return to the Democratic Party after 28 years as a Republican.
"I think the party has moved away from me," Hafer said. "I'm still a fiscal conservative and progressive on social issues. As the Republican Party has gotten more and more conservative, I realized it just doesn't fit me anymore."
Hafer, 60, of Elizabeth, stunned the political establishment in September 2002 when she threw her support behind Rendell, a former Philadelphia mayor, instead of state Attorney General Mike Fisher of Upper St. Clair, the GOP gubernatorial nominee. Rendell won the election handily.
Since then, Allegheny County Republican Chairman Richard Stampahar - a longtime friend of Hafer's - has been waiting for her to change parties.
"I thought it was inevitable that we were going to get the switch, but I didn't know when," he said. "I'm sorry she's changing. She has her reasons, and I have my reasons for staying a Republican until I die."
Hafer, a former Allegheny County commissioner, was elected state treasurer in November 1996 and re-elected in November 2000. Her four-year term expires in January 2005.
The former surgical nurse at McKeesport Hospital served two terms as state auditor general before winning the treasurer's post.
