That’s the difference. You’re talking about California, while I’m thinking of the South. In the South, there are still a lot of folks - especially older, especially in rural area and smallish cities - who really are Democrats because they’re great, great, great granddaddy was a Democrat who voted (and fought) against Lincoln. That mindset really does permeate a lot of the South even to this day. That’s why Southerners will vote for Republicans, yet the majority of voters are registered Democrats. In 2004, our county GOP had a whole bank of telephones dedicated solely to phoning (largely receptive) registered Democrats to encourage them to vote Republican.
Much, but not all, of the nationally-observed switching in 1994 was by Southern Democrats becoming Republicans - and most of them really were conservatives who continued to vote like it. In fact, the only disappointing party-switcher (let me qualify with “that I can think of at the moment”) was Ben Campbell, who ended up being a RINO - but he was from Colorado.
For this reason, and given the fact that Griffith appears to have a solidly conservative voting record in the one year that he’s been in the House, I don’t see any reason to suspect that he’s some sort of super-secret deep cover agent reporting directly to Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama.
Facts however are hard things. According to the media he voted with the dems 84% of the time.
“HUNTSVILLE, AL — U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith’s voting record in his first year in Congress contains several interesting details.
Griffith’s record is already being debated. Was he a Pelosi loyalist or a Democrat in name only?
Griffith, who announced his party switch today, voted with the Democratic majority 84 percent of the time...”
You tell me. Does not sound like a conservative to me.