Just out of curiosity,can a Republican become a Democrat?

Yes, people can change their parties.

From a philosophical standpoint, people can and do change their beliefs from liberal to conservative and vice versa and everything in between.

Of course. My dad switched back in Bush’s second term. He couldn’t take the religious right hijacking the party anymore. He had been a Republican for over 40 years.

Many others have left the party. Either becoming independents or democrats. In closed primary states it’s better to choose a party so you can participate in the candidate selection.

Yes. Party affiliation is not set in stone.

In Canada a party member can walk over to the other side .
Example: A Progressive Conservative walked over to the Liberal Party.
Voters were angry at that as that is not what they voted for.
Was wondering if it can happen in U.S. Politics?

Also wondering if Republicans who are leaving are in effect jumping ship before the Election for some wild reason..LOL.

Yes we can. I choose mostly by candidate, followed by issues. Dems need a candidate like Bill again, except smarter.

I just googled “politicians who switched political parties” and there is a ton of info on the internet.

Here are many Senators who did: https://ballotpedia.org/State_legislators_who_have_switched_political_party_affiliation

Yes. Our current governor ran and won as a Democrat. A year later, he changed to Republican. I don’t think it should be done once you are in office having won the position on the pretense of being with a party you don’t really agree with. This guy is friends with trump.

I didn’t realize the OP was talking about politicians.

Plenty of them switch parties. Some of them switch parties to be able to run, like Bloomberg became a Republican to run the first time. Eventually he became an independent. Maybe he still is an independent? He is general fiscally conservative and socially liberal so it’s not really dishonest of him to bounce around the political parties, he’s just navigating the system. Plenty of NYC Democrats voted for him when he was a Republican. He doesn’t tow the party line, he is issue by issue.

I think Trump became a Republican, because he thought that was the easiest and best way to win.

Governor Charlie Christ of Florida was a Republican Governor then became an Independent and then a Democrat.

Joe Lieberman went from Democrat to independent.

So many examples.

Usually it goes the other way, democrats become republcan when they grow older and more experienced.

Of course.
And a Christian can become an atheist.

I first registered in 1974, as a Republican.
Nixon was obviously imploding, and I thought the party would follow the moderates like John Lindsey and Howard Baker. The Democrats were being led by liberals like McGovern and Humphrey.
Eight years later, with the GOP now fully in the pocket of Reagan, I finally reregistered as a Democrat, still with the same views and convictions, but abandoned by my party.

I didn’t bail until Obama came on the ticket. The Republican response was so horrifying that I ran as far and fast as I could.
And now they’re trump supporters. WTF is wrong with them?