First, saying that about Reagan is ridiculous, he voted for FDR and then Truman in 1948 when Texas was solidly Democrat and was campaigning for the Republican after that, he gave a major speech at the Goldwater convention and was elected to his second term as a Republican Governor and ran for the GOP presidential nomination all before McGovern’s run for President, much less the Clintons and Obama, and Biden, hardly a good example for modern discussions of ex-Democrats of the modern post-1960s Democrat party.
This Democrat only just registered as an Independent because he can’t get the Democrat nomination, he is still a Democrat and a liberal.
Then Reagan was ridiculous, because he often alluded to his past Democratic Party membership. It was a constant talking point with him.
He famously said, "I did not leave the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party left me."
You can find many memes with that quote.
