Strom Thurmond (R-SC)

The former Democrat turned Republican after he could not prevent the passage of the 1957 Civil Rights Act with his filibuster which lasted for 24 hours and 18 minutes. Strom was the trail blazer for other white supremacists who left the Democrats and found their new home in the GOP.

Elected to the Senate in 1933, Strom also railed against the Federal Government interfering in states rights, to enforce Anti-Lynching Laws, fighting hard to protect that beloved spectator sport that conservatives stopped to participate in on their way home from church on Sundays.