Andrew Poysell Ireland (August 23, 1930 – October 20, 2024) was an American banker and politician from Florida. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993. He served eight terms, first as a Democrat, then as a Republican after switching parties in 1984.
Ireland became involved in politics in 1966, when he successfully ran for the position of Winter Haven city commissioner. In 1981, he served as a delegate to the United Nations.
Party switch
Ireland was elected as a Democrat to the 95th United States Congress and to the three succeeding Congresses. On March 17, 1984, however, he announced that he had become a Republican, with his party switch becoming official on July 8. He had been one of the more conservative Democrats in the Florida delegation, and had become increasingly uncomfortable with the leftward bent of the national party; in a speech announcing his switch, he said, "I didn't leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me." Even before his switch, Ireland had worn his party ties so loosely that SpeakerTip O'Neill mused that Ireland "wasn't much of a Democrat anyway." Future Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie, who was a staffer in Ireland's office at the time and switched parties soon after his boss, said that he and Ireland were classic examples of Reagan Democrats who became Republicans–"a southern conservative and a young northeastern ethnic Catholic who no longer felt comfortable in the party of their heritage." All but a few of Ireland's staffers stayed on after the switch, though some of them remained Democrats.[3]
