“The View” co-host Ana Navarro told actor Michael Douglas on Tuesday’s episode that she remains a registered Republican for one practical reason tied to Florida election law: the state’s closed primary system.
Douglas, appearing as a guest, asked Navarro directly why she hasn’t switched her registration to independent given her frequent criticism of former President Donald Trump. “I’ve admired you now so much for the last couple of years … But why aren’t you independent? How can you still be a Republican?” he asked, prompting laughter from Navarro, her co-hosts and the studio audience.
“I’ll tell you why, because I live in Florida where the primaries are closed, and I want to be able to vote in the primaries and vote against those sons of b—-es,” Navarro said, adding that she hoped to “make a difference in the primaries.”
Florida is a closed-primary state, meaning only voters registered with a party can cast ballots in that party’s primary elections. For Navarro, staying registered as a Republican is the only way to vote against candidates she opposes before the general election.
A Recurring Question
Navarro, a former Republican strategist, has long drawn criticism from conservatives for keeping her GOP registration while backing policies more aligned with her left-leaning co-hosts on “The View.” She served as a host at the 2024 Democratic National Convention and supported Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential race.
Asked about the criticism in an interview this week with Entertainment Weekly, Navarro pushed back. “I’d argue that anybody who espouses the same views as Donald Trump isn’t much of a traditional Republican,” she said. “I’m not going to be lectured to about what a Republican is or isn’t.”
The question has come up before. In 2019, Navarro told her co-hosts she had supported former Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential campaign and described herself as an “old-fashioned Republican” who favors free trade, a strong foreign policy, and is “pro-immigration.”
In 2022, when co-host Sunny Hostin pressed her again on why she still identifies as a Republican, Navarro replied, “Why are you still a Catholic? You don’t agree with everything about the Catholic Church.”
Recent Controversy
Last month, ABC and “The View” drew scrutiny after Navarro urged viewers to vote for a Democratic candidate in a closely watched Florida congressional race.
Republican consultant Mary Marslender was sharply critical of Navarro’s continued GOP registration, telling Fox News Digital that Navarro represents “a total grift” rather than genuine Republican dissent.
“She hasn’t supported anything from her supposed party in over a decade, but she won’t surrender her Republican voting card because it’s a credential that gets her on news programs,” Marslender said. “‘The View’ needs a fake Republican who will constantly criticize actual Republicans, the president, and party donors, and she’s keeping the title because it’s her business plan to pull the Republican card meaninglessly.”
