Oregon Rep. Cyrus Javadi will leave the Republican party and register as a Democrat.

Javadi, who lives in Tillamook, announced Friday that he made the switch earlier this week ahead of the Thursday deadline for him to do so in order to run as a Democrat in next year’s election.

“Being an elected leader has never been about party loyalty to me, it’s been about how I can best fight for our community and our state,” Javadi said in a statement.

The move comes days after Javadi broke with Republicans and voted with Democrats to approve a transportation funding package put forward by Gov. Tina Kotek that would raise taxes and fees.

Democrats delayed the final vote on the package in the Senate until Sept. 17 because Sen. Chris Gorsek, a Gresham Democrat, was unable to attend a planned v

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