Dictionary

leftugee en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /lɛfjʊˈd͡ʒiː/
• /ˈlɛfjʊd͡ʒiː/

Etymology

Blend of left (political left, left-wing) + refugee.

Meanings

1. (US) One who leaves a liberal blue state to live in a conservative red state, (often) doing so in favour of fewer regulations and lower taxes.
   • But the fact that leftugees move in pursuit of more-affordable housing or to escape chronic traffic jams does not mean they all prefer a pure “red” policy model of low taxes and fewer services. To the contrary, blue-state migrants may nudge the politics of their new homes — and the new congressional districts to be drawn around them — leftward, while avoiding the worst liberal excesses they left behind. 2020 January 6, Charles Lane, “Want more bang for your vote? Move.”, in Washington Post:
   • There's dispute over whether the newcomers will change state politics in the South, as they may have in North Carolina, which elected a Democratic governor in 2016, or are “leftugees” fleeing liberal policies who will embrace conservatism. 2020 January 6, Tim Henderson, “Some states face political changes as newcomers arrive”, in Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, page A6:
   • Forbes.com had a stark March 2021 headline for what's happening around the country: “America's Mass Migration Intensifies as ‘Leftugees’ Flee Blue States and Counties for Red.” 2022 January 23, “Color these (new) Tennessee former blue-staters red”, in The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee, page H7:
   • Just as a refugee resettles to escape hardship, a leftugee does so to flee the punitive financial environment created in their state by big government. 2019 December 27, Jason Orestes, “'Leftugees': Red states must defend themselves from the blue-state exodus”, in Washington Examiner:

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