Yeah, sure, I can. You might want to get a pen.
Most famously, as I noted in that thread, Senator Strom Thurmond -- an avowed segregationist and the Dixiecrat presidential candidate in 1948 -- switched parties in 1964 and helped Nixon win the region in 1968.
Again, as I already noted, Thurmond only switched because he got a rare deal in which he was allowed to keep his seniority and therefore all his congressional power.
Other senior Dixiecrats in Congress didn't get that deal, so they stayed put but urged the next generation to run as GOP.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) is a good example: an aide to a Dem congressman who succeeded him in 1972 as a Republican:
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) is a good example: an aide to a Dem congressman who succeeded him in 1972 as a Republican:
Same with Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), who began his career as a strategist to a segregationist Democrat but ran in 1972 as a Republican:
Lots of stories like these across the South, of politicians who left the Democrats over civil rights and ran for Congress as Republicans:
Reps. Floyd Spence, Bo Calloway, Albert Watson, (later Sen.) Thad Cochran, Bill Mills, Tillie Fowler, etc.
Governors? Mills Godwin in VA.
Reps. Floyd Spence, Bo Calloway, Albert Watson, (later Sen.) Thad Cochran, Bill Mills, Tillie Fowler, etc.
Governors? Mills Godwin in VA.
The same seniority issue kept state legislators from switching parties, but lots of statehouse officials did.
In Georgia, for instance, the top five officials in the Capitol all switched from Dem to GOP in 1968.
In Georgia, for instance, the top five officials in the Capitol all switched from Dem to GOP in 1968.
The realignment of the two parties happened this way, in fits and starts, as old Dixiecrats retired and a new generation increasingly ran as Republicans. It didn't happen overnight & stretched on until the 1990s in some places.
But the trend is clear & well documented.
But the trend is clear & well documented.
And, of course, by the time I write the response, the original tweet is gone.
It asked if anyone could name the Democrats who "supposedly" switched to the Republicans over the party's changes on civil rights.
It asked if anyone could name the Democrats who "supposedly" switched to the Republicans over the party's changes on civil rights.
Ah, here it is:
