Kentucky Special Elections and the Trump Republicans

Today there are four special elections for the Kentucky House. It's the last legislative house that Democrats control in the south, after controlling all of them for over 100 years. This could be considered the conclusion of a realignment that started with the 1994 Republican Revolution when these houses started flipping. The Washington Post has an article about the elections: One interesting quote:

"What has the Democratic Party done for poor, conservative Evangelical white people?" Farrier said. "And the answer is not much. On God, guns and gays, poor, white Evangelical conservatives would say the Democratic Party walked away from them, and not the other way around."

This quote provides insight into the 2016 election. Southerners who left the Democratic party over the last 20+ years haven't done it because they've embraced the Republican party but because they were running from the Democratic party. They became the new Republicans. Republicans have taken delight with how they've won over voters without having to work to win their votes. Pretty easy, right? Except now these voters make up the core of Donald Trump's Republican support. Republicans thought they could win voters who didn't entirely fit ideologically without it changing the party. They were wrong. The Trump Republicans have found a candidate who fits them. And they have as much right to try to nominate him as the Republicans who were in the party before them do.