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Former Douglas County Democratic Party Chairman Kris Pierce lost his middle management job in the Douglas County Assessor/Register of Deeds Office Monday, amid rumors that he had changed parties and was considering a run for his boss’s job.

Assessor/Register of Deeds Diane Battiato said Pierce was let go for budget reasons. She said she eliminated his position as an assistant deputy to save money.

“Our budget has been very, very tight, and I unfortunately had to make that decision,” Battiato said.

Pierce, a former political consultant who worked on Battiato’s 2014 campaign, had worked in Battiato’s office since January 2015. His title was assistant deputy of operations/assessment. He had worked for the Douglas County Democratic Party as its executive director in 2007 and 2008 and later became the county Democratic Party chairman.

He’s now registered as a Republican. In an unpublished interview Friday, before his termination, Pierce told The World-Herald that he had changed his voter registration in early 2016 because he felt like his views on such issues as gun control and the death penalty were more in line with the GOP than with Democrats.