In the 1960s & early 1970s, white Southerners were still in the process of transitioning away from the Democratic Party (while newly enfranchised black Southerners voted & continued to vote Democratic). During the 1972 presidential primaries, former AL Governor George Wallace, known for his staunch support of segregation, ran as a Democrat, even as Richard Nixon employed a Southern strategy that appealed to the racism of Southern white voters.
9/