(José Niño, Headline USA) Alan Dershowitz, the 87-year-old Harvard Law School professor emeritus and one of the most prominent jewish liberal legal scholars in American history, has formally registered as a Republican after 67 years as a Democrat, Breaking 911 reported on Tuesday.
Alan Dershowitz is officially leaving the Democratic Party, with the longtime liberal now registering as a Republican. pic.twitter.com/biGMUGbwjl
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 21, 2026
The announcement came through a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published on Monday, titled “Why I’m Becoming a Republican.” Dershowitz explained his decision in stark terms.
“I am a lifelong Democrat. I started campaigning for the party’s local candidates as a teenager in Brooklyn, N.Y., have been a registered Democrat for 67 years, made speeches for John F. Kennedy as a college student, and can count on one hand the number of Republicans I’ve ever supported for any office. Yet I’ve decided to bite the bullet and register as a Republican.”
The singular driver of Dershowitz’s decision is the Democratic Party’s posture on Israel. He declared that Democrats have become “the most anti-Israel party in U.S. history,” according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The specific flashpoint was a recent Senate vote in which 40 out of 47 Senate Democrats voted for Bernie Sanders-led resolutions to block U.S. arms sales to Israel, including sales of bulldozers and 1,000-pound bombs. This April 2026 vote marked an unprecedented spike from 19 Democrats supporting a similar measure in November 2024, per the Jerusalem Post.
Dershowitz made clear this was not an ideological conversion. He explicitly stated he still disagrees with Republicans on abortion, immigration, healthcare, taxes, and the separation of church and state, according to The Blaze.
The party switch was years in the making. After the 2024 Democratic National Convention, which he called “the most anti-Jewish, anti-Israel, anti-Zionist convention I’ve experienced,” Dershowitz left the party and became an Independent, per the Forward.
In October 2025, he publicly pledged to support Republicans in the 2026 midterms, saying “The Democrats have not only lost my votes, but they have made me an enemy,” according to The Gateway Pundit. In November 2025, he formally quit the Democratic Party again, citing New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as an example of the party’s direction, per Israel National News. On Monday, he completed the transition by registering as a Republican.
Dershowitz outlined an active political role going forward, pledging to contribute money to Republican candidates, campaign and make speeches at Republican events, urge pro-Israel Americans to change party affiliation or vote against Democrats, and vote Republican for representative, senator, and president, according to RedState.
He also appeared on the Mark Levin Show on Monday, where he declared “I’m now a Republican. So Tucker Carlson’s my problem as well as your problem,” acknowledging that the GOP has its own problematic figures but arguing Republicans handle them better than Democrats handle figures like Hasan Piker, per Breitbart.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
