Many folks who are hard-core leftists come from humble, small-town beginnings.
Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Jimmy Buffet, Kris Kristoferson all come to mind.
And these are the big ones. Many other examples out there.
Regarding Kristofferson, from wiki
“Military career[edit]
Kris, under pressure from his family, ultimately joined the U.S. Army and achieved the rank of Captain. He became a helicopter pilot after receiving flight training at Fort Rucker, Alabama. He also completed Ranger School. During the early 1960s, he was stationed in West Germany as a member of the 8th Infantry Division.[10] It was during this time that he resumed his music career and formed a band. In 1965, when his tour of duty ended, Kristofferson was given an assignment to teach English Literature at West Point.[11] Instead, he decided to leave the Army and pursue songwriting. His family disowned him because of this decision and they never reconciled with him.[citation needed] They saw it as a rejection of everything they stood for, in spite of the fact that Kristofferson has said he is proud of his time in the military, and received the AVA (American Veterans Awards) “Veteran of the Year Award” in 2003.[12][13]”
That makes him a “hard core leftist?”
Worse yet are those who spent time (or graduated from Baylor), once a fine Christian and Conservative institution. There's Willie Nelson, of course, but also the socialist governor who almost destroyed the Texas economy in the 1990s, Ann Richards.