Sheila Kuehl
When Kuehl was elected as a Democrat to the California Assembly in 1994 a Republican majority was seated for the first time in 20 years. This was due largely as an out-flowing of the enthusiasm stoked up by Newt Gingrich's strategy supporting Republicans for the Federal Legislature. Kuehl recalled "The Republican majority was quite a different kind of Republican, not a moderate, not a Rockefeller Republican. They were primarily Bible-thumpers and very right-wing. So it was not the most welcoming Republican group, though they loved Zelda Gilroy, and it was very difficult for them because they already liked me so much…. And to their surprise, we all got along very well. ...The Republicans were pretty horrible about LGBT stuff. They all virtually said stuff like, 'Well, they're all spawn of the devil, oh, but not you, Sheila….'"
Dan Kuykendall
Kuykendall's first involvement with Republican politics came in 1960, when he volunteered for the Richard Nixon campaign. He first came to attention two years later, when he managed former city councilman Ed Davis' campaign for Congress in the Memphis-based 9th Congressional District. In that race, Davis came within only 1,200 votes of defeating 22-year incumbent Clifford Davis. In 1963 and 1964, he served as a co-chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party, which was returning to prominence after years of irrelevance. This was largely due to a massive crossover of white voters to the Republicans—the same factor which fueled Davis' near-upset in 1962.