Usually. But there are exceptions.
As for myself, I was Democrat being raised in the South. Now I look at Atilla the Hun as a pinko-lib.
There was also another Democrat turned Republican, named Ronald Reagan, who was far from being a RINO.
Thus it is best to reserve judgement on people's words until they show some actions to define their character.
As President Reagan said: “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.”
Back then the ideological gulf that he crossed was not near as wide as it is today. A liberal Democrat could be found who still loved America as founded. What Reagan did was see the Democrat future and wanted no part of it. Today if you are a Democrat who still loves America as it was founded you are persona-non-grata in the Democrat party and must leave it to keep your sanity. The reason a person stays a Democrat is that they hate America and want to mutate it into something resembling the former Soviet Union.
Me too ... but I was raised in New York City where Democrats often run unopposed.
On my little peninsula the independent ‘Harry S. Truman Democratic Club’ and ‘Good Government Regular Democratic Club’ have been active for years. They provide the important local linkages that make grassroots clubs so effective. They attend local events, they host fundraisers, they have columns in the local newspaper, they sponsor weekly bus trips to Atlantic City casinos. etc.
Only recently has the ‘Rockaway Republicans’ been formed. They are trying to revive a Republican presence in the Rockaways. But now the chair of the Queens County Republican Party wants to disband it in favor of a single Queens Club that would roll up all independent clubs within a single structure on the mainland. Bad move on their part.