Zell could have changed parties and made a difference, but he didn’t.
There were many more or less conservatives trapped in the Roosevelt aura. Where I was born and raised you didn’t register as a Republican, or you never got to vote in a primary. I did register as a republican to the eternal dismay of my mother who never forgave me. Strangely she did however admire Reagan, maybe even voted for him.
Seems my conservative roots were stronger than yours...be they Democrat or Republican.