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A long­time GOP leg­is­la­tor in Arkansas on Thurs­day announced that he was leav­ing the Repub­li­can Par­ty to become an inde­pen­dent, say­ing the vio­lent pro-Trump insur­rec­tion at the U.S. Capi­tol on Jan. 6 was “the final straw.”

“This comes after many sleep­less nights; a lot of seri­ous con­sid­er­a­tion; and it comes with sad­ness and dis­ap­point­ment,” Hen­dren said in an announce­ment. “But it’s clear-eyed. I’m mak­ing this deci­sion because my com­mit­ment to our state and our coun­try is greater than loy­al­ty to any polit­i­cal party.”