By John Solomon, Nov. 4, 2014, Washingtontimes.com

The Senate wasn’t the only political player bracing for a party switch on Tuesday.

Ben Carson, the pediatric neurosurgeon turned conservative sensation after he confronted President Obama at a prayer breakfast last year, used Election Day to officially change his party affiliation from independent back to Republican, moving yet another step closer to a possible 2016 presidential run.

Mr. Carson, who grew up poor in Detroit and rose to success as a doctor at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Maryland, made the paperwork change in his new home state of Florida. He filed the paperwork in Palm Beach County.

“It’s truly a pragmatic move because I have to run in one party or another. If you run as an independent, you only risk splitting the electorate,” Mr. Carson told The Washington Times in an interview Tuesday night shortly after making the change. “I clearly would not be welcome in the Democratic Party, and so that only leaves one party.