Leaving the office of Kansas Gov. Robert Bennett as press secretary four decades ago, I was presented with a handmade poster collage showing a guy with a wheelbarrow and shovel trailing a circus elephant labeled “Kansas GOP.”
“Thanks for all your work shoveling shit for the GOP,” the caption read.
After decades of work as a Republican congressional staffer and campaign worker, I stopped shoveling and severed ties with the Republican Party the day Donald Trump was nominated. A short time later I became a registered member of the Democratic Party.
It was one of the most difficult — and most satisfying — decisions of my professional life, with personal fallout continuing.
Many people today disgusted with Trump, his destructive lies and his sycophant allies, believe (or hope) thinking Republicans will desert the GOP and bring the Republican Party to its knees. But my own experience — and the evidence — shows massive party switching is unlikely to happen.
Anyone involved in campaign politics knows that a person’s party identification is a deeply personal decision that is difficult to change. When voters can be persuaded to change, they often put a delicate toe in the water by becoming an independent or unaffiliated voter, many times changing back when the winds of politics change.
For years the best predictor of a person’s political party was family history. Despite the occasional rebellious offspring, Republicans breed Republicans and Democrats breed Democrats.
In fact, there is a controversial new theory making academic rounds that says our choice of party affiliation is baked into our genes.
The Republican DNA in my mother’s family is so strong that anyone becoming a Democrat was unthinkable. When my cousin married, his new bride went to the courthouse to register under her new name.
“You will want a Republican ballot,” she was told. “No member of your husband’s family ever voted for a Democrat.”
That somewhat explains the anger and rejection I met in changing parties. A few family members, some former colleagues and even some people I always considered fast friends ceased communications or became downright hostile.
Reading social media posts by thousands of Kansans during the 2020 election shows the reaction I received is not unusual. Many voters confessed they were keeping their rejection of Trump’s GOP quiet to avoid family conflict.
Staffers who switch parties are often viewed as traitors by their former party but are not quite trusted by their new party. One progressive friend dismissed my new Democratic Party affiliation with, “What took you so long?”
Despite the many former Republicans working as “Never Trump” in 2020, partisans find change especially difficult. In my own case, it would be hard to find better bosses, friends and mentors than Gov. Bob Bennett and Sen. Pat Roberts in the years I was affiliated with them.
But the Republican Party changed. I do not recognize many elected officials I once knew, and I do not understand how they got to where they are today. Even decades of working in government and politics left me unprepared to explain how an entire political party and its top leaders could become a personality cult intent on destroying America’s election system and justifying their actions with lies.
Shortly after the 2020 election and Trump’s insurrection, the media narrative was voters leaving the Republican party.
But as the Washington Post noted in May, “The number of people changing their party affiliation in swing states has normalized, with relatively little overall shift.”
And in Kansas, party numbers show little evidence of a major registration shift.
Political change is hard for people. I once asked a Democratic activist farmer in southwest Kansas why he continued to be a strong Democrat when his neighbors were all Republicans.
“During the Great Depression our family did not have enough to eat,” he answered. “My daddy could not afford a new pair of overalls. But President Roosevelt got us food on the table. My daddy got a new pair of overalls.”
“Every time I think about voting for a Republican,” he said, “I think about my daddy and his overalls.”
In my own case, in rejecting the Party of Trump, I was reminded of that silly poster given to me years ago, of the guy with the shovel and of the best political advice ever:
When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
Through its opinion section, the Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
The Link LonkJuly 04, 2021 at 10:33AM
https://kansasreflector.com/2021/07/04/changing-political-parties-in-kansas-was-hard-but-its-easier-than-being-part-of-the-big-lie/
Changing political parties in Kansas was hard, but it's easier than being part of the Big Lie - Kansas Reflector
https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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