Kirkpatrick Makes Switch to Republicans

WASHINGTON — Former U.N. Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, saying she is “tired of swimming against the current of my own party,” changed her voter registration Wednesday from Democrat to Republican.

“I didn’t feel like a Democrat anymore,” Kirkpatrick told a news conference, adding the party has moved away from her views. She was flanked by Republican National Chairman Frank J. Fahrenkopf and Maureen Reagan, the President’s elder daughter.

White House spokesman Peter Roussel said: “We’re extremely pleased and feel confident she will make an outstanding contribution to the party and the country.”

Kirkpatrick’s long-heralded switch of party allegiance came after she served four years as the Reagan Administration’s chief representative to the United Nations and developed a reputation as an outspoken conservative.

She is resuming her former career as a writer and lecturer associated with Georgetown University.