They were loyal Democrats for decades.
But some say they grew tired of their choices at the voting booth. Instead, they found hope in the Republican Party’s presidential nominee this year.
Read about longtime Republicans who will vote for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Here are the stories of longtime and former Democrats who say they want a Republican in the White House next year.
Four years ago, John Toedtman planted a Barack Obama yard sign in the front lawn of his Sharonville home. He passed out campaign bumper stickers. He made phone calls to make sure Obama’s supporters got to the polls on Election Day.
This year, he is again volunteering his time for a presidential hopeful: Donald Trump.
He doesn’t think Obama has done a bad job in the White House – in fact, Toedtman said, “for the most part, Obama has had a good presidency.”
And he certainly doesn’t consider himself a Republican. Toedtman has solidly voted for Democrats in past presidential elections, with the exception of one vote for Ronald Reagan in 1980.
“I haven’t switched parties,” Toedtman, a 73-year-old piano teacher, said. “I’ve switched candidates.”
Toedtman worries about the string of terrorist attacks across the globe in recent years and the loss of American jobs to foreign workers. Growing up in Dayton, Ohio, he saw companies that once made up the city’s robust economy shutter jobs and factories over several decades.
So he likes that Trump talks about tougher restrictions for immigrants and cracking down on companies that outsource jobs to other countries.
“The American working class is suffering,” Toedtman said. “I hear people say that Trump doesn’t care about people. I see the opposite: He’s the one speaking out for people that have been disadvantaged by this globalization economy.”
John Toedtman of Sharonville met Donald Trump during one of his rallies earlier this year in West Chester.
He hasn't agreed with all of Trump's plans.
Toedtman thought Trump’s idea to ban all Muslims from entering the country was too extreme, for example, and prefers Trump’s recent proposal to impose tougher rules for immigrants coming from certain countries.
“It’s like being married. You’re pretty lucky if you find a partner that you don’t have any gripes about,” Toedtman said. “I see more of what I think we need in this country now that I don’t think Hillary Clinton is going to supply.”
Toedtman’s support of Trump has upset some family and friends. His two sons liked Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. His wife can’t talk about Trump without getting riled.
“My wife is just livid. She thinks I’ve lost my marbles. We don’t talk about it,” Toedtman said. “It’s been awful. I can’t ever remember an election where people have been unwilling to discuss the issues in a rational manner.”
Cindee Weber cast a Republican ballot for the first time in her life eight years ago.
“I’ve been voting Democrat ever since I was old enough to vote,” Weber, a 70-year-old living in Hamilton, said. “My family was Democrat and I followed the family guidelines.”
Weber can’t put her finger on it. She thought Obama was “impressive” but wasn’t sold on him. She cast ballots, instead, for Republicans John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012 but wasn’t thrilled with those choices, either.
This year the Republican candidate is much different -- and so are Weber’s feelings toward him.
“Mr. Trump, when I watch him on TV, he makes sense,” Weber said. “He makes me feel that he really thinks about the average American and what they’ve been through. You know how you meet somebody and you just like him and believe him? I believe him.”
Cindee Weber, 70, of Hamilton was a longtime Democrat who is now passionate about Donald Trump.
Although she twice voted to put Bill Clinton in the White House, she began to change her mind about him when a sex scandal came to light during his second term. Weber says Hillary Clinton doesn’t come across as “real” and she sees the Clinton family as “corrupt” now.
Her enthusiasm for Trump has surprised some of her friends.
“Oh my gosh – one of my very best friends, I can’t mention his name because she’s not happy,” Weber said. “On Facebook, I’ve stopped posting a lot of stuff about Trump. I think twice, and I say, ‘No, don’t post it.’ But I think he is what we need right now.”
Still, disapproval from a few hasn’t stopped her from volunteering for the Trump campaign. Over the next few weeks, you can find Weber walking door-to-door through Butler County in a Trump hat and T-shirt.
“Most of my friends are Democrats. We’ve been friends a long time and I’ve changed party lines. Am I right?” Weber asked, with an anxious chuckle. “I think I am.”
Tom Coyne is too familiar with the side effects a city feels when a company decides to move American jobs to a foreign country.
It was six years ago the Ford Motor Co. axed the remaining 300 jobs at a Brook Park, an Ohio foundry that, in its prime, had once employed 10,000 workers in the Cleveland region. An auto supplier in Mexico won the new contract that shifted jobs from the Cleveland suburb.
So when Trump started talking about penalizing major corporations that move jobs overseas, Coyne – the mayor of Brook Park – started listening.
“He’s the first I’ve ever heard say that he was going to hold corporate America responsible about moving jobs,” Coyne said. “When Trump started, he was the only one talking about (trade agreements).”
It wouldn’t seem odd, then, that Coyne voted for Trump in the Ohio Republican primary and plans to vote for him again on Election Day. But for Coyne, it’s an unusual first.
“I voted in the Republican primary for the first time in my life – I’m 66 years old,” Coyne said. “I’ve been voting since I was 18 years old, 48 years.”
Tom Coyne, the mayor of Brook Park, Ohio, is voting for the Republican Party's presidential nominee for the first time in his life.
Coyne grew up surrounded by a family of Democrats, but he’s always been drawn to more moderate candidates. While he’s always voted for the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate in years past, he describes himself as an Independent today.
He’s inclined to vote for Rob Portman, a Republican, in the Senate race but will look closely at the candidate – not the party – in other down-ballot races.
Coyne said he’s noticed many Trump backers prefer to stay mum. He’s been able to sway some friends to throw their support behind the real estate mogul but few, he said, are willing to go public like he has.
“From regular folks, they’re intrigued by it,” Coyne said. “In the beginning, I think they thought I’ve taken a loss of my senses. As things emerged, they could see why.”
Larry Mazzuckelli’s early voting history was shaped by a Midwestern, blue-collar family loyal to the Democratic Party.
But Mazzuckelli, a 69-year-old living in Walton, Kentucky, said the Democratic Party no longer looks like the one his parents loved.
“The Democratic Party left me. It was very easy to switch to being Republican,” Mazzuckelli said. “It’s clearly a socialist platform. When you start giving stuff away, that means somebody has to pay for it.”
Mazzuckelli first voted for a Republican in 2008.
“I generally would pull the lever for the Democrats right down the line,” Mazzuckelli said of his voting history prior to 2008. “I’ve been disappointed in candidates for both parties that have been put up until now.”
In Trump, Mazzuckelli sees a candidate who has developed a successful business empire and delivers thoughtful, distinct ideas for America’s future.
Larry Mazzuckelli of Walton, Kentucky, was a reliable Democratic voter until 2008.
While Mazzuckelli acknowledges Trump stumbles with gaffes in some of his speeches, he sees the candidate’s honesty as a refreshing break from politicians who deliver rehearsed talking points.
“He’s not the smoothest order the world has ever known, which makes him easy prey for people who like to pick on one word and pretend it’s an entire speech,” Mazzuckelli said of Trump. “If nothing else, when Donald Trump says, ‘I’m going to build a wall,’ it’s forced us to have serious conversation about immigration and border security.”
Trump, who has voted for both Republican and Democrats in years past, seems like the type of swing voter Mazzuckelli has become.
“Donald Trump came along and he’s not really part of any party,” Mazzuckelli said. “One day he’s a Democrat. One day he’s a Republican. One day he’s Donald Trump. That’s just fine by me."
