Switching parties - the DEMS Hall of Shame + more

[RiverStone]

With all the anger that Dirty Joe is generating these days with his wimpy threats of changing his party (just do it!); I was curious how common a practice pulling the ol switcheroo was. I was quite surprised to find that just since 1995, the following folks have traded in blue for red (or visa versa) from 1995-2007:

DEMS Hall of Shame - Blue to Red :puke:

1995 - Jimmy Hayes, while U.S. Representative from Louisiana
1995 - Greg Laughlin, while U.S. Representative from Texas
1995 - Ben Nighthorse Campbell, while U.S. Senator from Colorado
1995 - Billy Tauzin, while U.S. Representative from Louisiana
1995 - Nathan Deal, while U.S. Representative from Georgia
1995 - Mike Parker, while U.S. Representative from Mississippi
1995 - Mike Foster, while running for Governor of Louisiana
1995 - Rusty Crowe, Tennessee state senator
1995 - Milton H. Hamilton, Jr, Tennessee state senator
1996 - Norm Coleman, while mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota
1998 - George Wallace, Jr., before running for Alabama Public Service Commissioner
1998 - Herman Badillo
1998 - Sonny Perdue, while a Georgia State Senator
1999 - Nancy Larraine Hoffmann, current New York State Senator
2000 - Matthew G. Martinez, while U.S. Representative from California
2001 - Michael Bloomberg, before running for mayor of New York City
2002 - Amy Tuck, while Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi
2002 - Olga A. Méndez, while State Senator in New York
2003 - Melinda Schwegmann, while State House member in Lousiana
2003 - Gabriel Vasquez, Houston City Councilmember (council seat is nonpartisan)
2004 - Ralph Hall, while U.S. Representative from Texas
2004 - Rodney Alexander, while U.S. Representative from Louisiana (his switch just before the filing deadline prevented the Democrats from fielding a viable replacement candidate)
2005 - Michael Diven, while in Pennsylvania state House, defeated in 2006 elections
2006 - Sheri McInvale, Florida State Representative, defeated in 2006 elections
2006 - Don McLeary, Tennessee state senator, defeated in 2006 elections
2006 - John Giannetti, Maryland State Senator, defeated in 2006 elections
2006 - Will Kendrick, Florida State Representative, after being reelected as a Democrat
2007 - James Walley, Mississippi State Senator, re-elected for his current seat as a Republican. His switch caused the Senate to be evenly divided at 26 Republicans and 26 Democrats; since the Mississippi Lieutenant Governor (Amy Tuck) is a Republican, the GOP gained control of the Senate for the first time since Reconstruction.

Though he never formally changed his affiliation, former U.S. Senator Zell B. Miller (D-Georgia), caucused with the Senate Republicans and spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention.


I See The Light - Red to Blue! :applause:

1996 - Carolyn McCarthy, now U.S. Representative from New York, to challenge incumbent Dan Frisa (McCarthy was still a registered Republican at the time, but changed her registration to Democratic in 2002)
1997 - Betsy McCaughey Ross, during her term as Lieutenant Governor of New York, after falling out of favour with Governor George Pataki
1998 - Russell W. Peterson, Governor of Delaware 1969-1973
1999 - Michael Forbes, while U.S. representative from New York
2000 - Dean Johnson, former GOP State Senate Minority Leader and future DFL State Senate Majority Leader, while State Senator from Minnesota
2000 - Judi Dutcher, while State Auditor from Minnesota
2002 - D. G. Anderson, before filing for the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Hawaii
2002 - Charles R. Larson, before running for Lieutenant Governor of Maryland
2002 - Ray Nagin, days before filing for the mayoral race in New Orleans
2003 - Teresa Heinz Kerry, in protest of the campaign tactics used by Saxby Chambliss in the Georgia U.S. Senate race of 2002
2003 - Barbara Hafer, while State Treasurer of Pennsylvania
2005 - Andy Warren, former Bucks County, Pennsylvania Commissioner and well-known local politician (now running for Congress)
2005 - Paul Morrison, Overland Park, Kansas Attorney; now State Attorney General
2006 - James Webb, Secretary of the Navy under Reagan, prior to running for U.S. Senate in Virginia
2006 - Mark Parkinson, former Kansas Republican Party Chairman, prior to running for Lieutenant Governor of Kansas
2006 - Charles Barkley, former NBA basketballer, in anticipation of running for Governor of Alabama in 2010
2006 - Nancy Riley, GOP whip for the Oklahoma State Senate, as reported by the Daily Oklahoman.
2006 - Kate Witek, while serving as Auditor of Nebraska
2006 - Montana State Senator Sam Kitzenberg switched from Republican to Democrat with the reported motivation being to break a 25 to 25 tie (the new ratio will be 26 Democrats to 24 Republicans).
2006 - Rodney Tom, switched parties while serving in the Washington State House of Representatives after the 2006 legislative session ended, announced he would run as a Democrat for State Senate in his district, in November of 2006 defeated Republican incumbent state Senator Luke Esser.
2006 - Diana Urban, Connecticut State Representative.

Above lists do not include all those that switched to a 3rd party or did any flipping before 1995, the rest can be found at link below.

Lists generated from Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_switching_in_the_United_States