State Rep. George Flaggs of Vicksburg fired back Monday against a claim that he’s not a “real Democrat.”

Flaggs, who has represented Warren County in the Mississippi House of Representatives for 25 years, said an advertisement in Sunday’s The Vicksburg Post was an attack on his integrity. He made a fiery speech on the House floor Monday “to set the record straight.”

The ad stated, “If you are a real Democrat who will vote like a real Democrat interested in running against George Flaggs as a Democrat in 2015,” contact Lance Stevens, a Jackson lawyer listed as president of Democrats for Honest Government.

The ad was an apparent response to Flaggs’ decision to vote with Republicans or abstain on certain issues where most other Democrats have voted against the GOP majority. Some other Democrats have also broken party ranks at times.

“I’m an individual thinker and a man,” Flaggs told the House in a nearly 3-minute speech. “I do what I please.”

Flaggs lambasted Stevens for attacking him in his hometown newspaper. “My name stands for something in Vicksburg,” thundered Flaggs, who vowed not to spend a dime of campaign money to respond.

Flaggs was one of 10 Democrats named committee chairman by House Speaker Philip Gunn, a Clinton Republican. That compares to 30 Republicans leading committees.

In a phone interview this morning, Flaggs said he thought the ad was a sign of frustration from having to deal with a Republican-controlled House, the first since Reconstruction.

“I think they’re trying to intimidate me as a Democrat if I continue to vote on the merits of an issue rather than politics,” he said. “And that’s not going to happen. I’ll quit and walk home before I let that happen.”

He said his constituents expect him to represent the best interests of the district and the state, not follow in lock-step with party politics.

Stevens could not be reached for comment late Monday or this morning. A representative in his office said he would be out of the office all week.

Joey Diaz Jr., a Madison attorney listed as treasurer of the group, also could not be reached. No such group shows up in the Secretary of State’s online databases of political committees or corporations.

Rep. Ed Blackmon, D-Canton, defended Flaggs.

“It offended me about the words ‘real Democrat,’” said Blackmon, who has mainly voted with his own party on issues where there has been a split. “We’re both running on the Democratic ballot and if you don’t like it, come into our districts and run against us.”

Stevens and Diaz are both lawyers who mainly represent plaintiffs. Such lawyers have been a core Democratic constituency in the past.