Until proven otherwise, these battlefield conversions sound less like epiphanies than simply rank career enhancing opportunism.
Larry McDonald used to remind us that until you had a record to examine, about all you could really know about an elected official is that he knows how to get elected. And, given the gullibility and ignorance of the electorate, that was often achieved by devious, disingenuous means.
Many Republican leaders in the South began as Democrats.