Hard to imagine a district that elects Rumsfeld and Crane turns democrat.
The district was gerrymandered. I still remember Nancy Pelosi gloating along with Segal on “ALL THINGS CONSIDERED” on PBS radio about Crane losing.
Crane had a great run and in the late ‘70s all conservative doners got tons of fundraising mail signed by Crane as well as mail via Steve Symms. By the time Reagan was sworn in as president the best known popular hardcore conservatives in the House or Senate were Phil Crane, John Ashbrook, Jesse Helms, and Steve Symms.
...and Congressman Larry McDonald even though Larry was a Democrat he had the most conservative voting record in the House. Crane and McDonald were both intellectual strict-constructionists and both were as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar.
Shortly after Reagan’s coronation the conservative movement lost both Congressman John Ashbrook (mysterious stomach bleeding) and Congressman Larry McDonald (Korean Airlines Flight 007 shootdown).
The teachers union, quietly indoctrinating conservative children to be leftists. That, and leftists fleeing the chaos they create for the stability and safty of conservative areas.
His district is not far from the Chicago Ayers/Alinsky epicenter.