He's arguably the most famous Republican president ever, but up until 1962, Ronald Reagan was a Democrat. The former President of the United States, Governor of California, an
…d president of the Screen Actors Guild once said, "I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The party left me."Many people feel that Democrat Hillary Clinton will become the first female president of the United States in 2016, but many of her supporters may not realize that she campaigned for politicians like Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon in her youth. She even ran the Wellesley College Young Republicans Club. Clinton credits the Vietnam War with convincing her to switch parties.Real estate tycoon Donald Trump still believes in the Republican ideology, but his frustration with the party itself led to him becoming an independent in 2011. Trump claimed he would run for president if the GOP chose a candidate who would not defeat Barack Obama in the 2012 election. Despite considering a run, Trump never did and gave his support to Republican Mitt Romney instead.Several things persuaded Condoleezza Rice to become a Republican in the early 1980s after voting for Democrat Jimmy Carter. They include Carter's polices, but more importantly, her African-American father's ability to vote. "My father joined our party because the Democrats in Jim Crow Alabama of 1952 would not register him to vote. The Republicans did," she once said.Texas Governor Rick Perry is one of the most famous Republican governors in the United States. He even ran for president in 2012. However, up until 1988, he was a staunch Democrat, like his father. He campaigned for Al Gore's failed presidential bid in 1988, but claims that when it came time to vote, he chose George H. W. Bush. When he shares that story, he simply says, "I came to my senses."When you think of most Republicans, a Woodstock-attending, war-protesting hippie is not the first thing that comes to mind, but that is exactly how Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman spent his youth. The former mayor of St. Paul's had polices that were unpopular with the far left, so in 1996, even after working for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign, Coleman declared himself a Republican.Susana Martinez is the first Hispanic female to become governor, and as of 2013, she also happens to be the governor with the best bi-partisan approval ratings. The Republican is loved by constituents on both sides of the aisle. After a GOP lunch in 1996, then-Democrat Martinez claims she looked at her husband and said, "I'll be damned; we're Republicans."Former three-term New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg switches parties so often that it's really hard to fit him into any category these days. Up until 2001, Bloomberg was a Democrat, but when he ran for mayor, he decided to become a Republican. In 2007, he ditched both parties and ran as an independent for this third mayoral term.Like President Reagan, former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, a lifelong Democrat, felt as if the party changed too much for his liking over the years. In 2006, he became an Independent, and in 2008, he campaigned for Republican John McCain for president. When asked about the switch, he said, "It was no longer the party it was when I joined it in the image of President Kennedy."As the wife of Democrat and Secretary of State John Kerry, you might be surprised to learn that Teresa Heinz Kerry was a staunch Republican up until 2002. She claims the switch to become a Democrat happened when she saw the GOP use nasty attack ads in a Georgia senatorial race. Ironically, it happened just before her husband made his own bid for the presidency in 2004. (MORE) 
