8 Die-Hard Trump Loyalists Who Are Now Anti-MAGA Democrats - Black Therapy Today
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8 Die-Hard Trump Loyalists Who Are Now Anti-MAGA Democrats

8 Die-Hard Trump Loyalists Who Are Now Anti-MAGA Democrats

They were in the room when the decisions were made. They saw the transcripts before they were redacted. Now, a wave of former Trump administration officials is completely flipping the switch and switching sides as they prepare to run for office as, wait for it… anti-MAGA Democrats.

As the 2026 midterms approach, a distinct group of former Trump-era loyalists has joined the Great Realignment— a massive shift in Congress where traditional party loyalties are melting like fish grease in a hot pan and ideological lines are being redrawn. From a former deputy legal advisor to the National Security Council to an ex-Mike Pence aide, these Republicans are setting their sights on bluer skies.

These former Republicans are attempting to bridge the partisan divide, arguing that the only way to save America is to empower the very opposition they once fought against.

We gathered eight former Trump loyalists who traded in their red jersey for a blue one, and now want your vote in November.

Olivia Troye

Former Trump administration national security official Olivia Troye speaks on the third day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 21, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the party’s nomination for president at the DNC which runs from August 19-22 in Chicago. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Olivia Troye built her career as a Republican national security aide, serving in the Trump administration as a top adviser to Vice President Mike Pence.

After years as a top advisor, she finally walked away with a total political identity shift that saw her go from the inner circle of the GOP to a prominent voice on the Democratic campaign trail.

Olivia Troye

Former Trump national security official Olivia Troye introduces Vice President Kamala Harris (off frame) at a political event on July 17, 2024 at the Air Zoo Aerospace & Science Experience in Portage, Michigan. (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP) (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

Her breaking point wasn’t a single headline, but a steady accumulation of moments inside the West Wing where she felt the mission had drifted dangerously off course.

After walking away from the right, she has fully realigned politically. Her evolution culminated in a run for Congress as a Democrat, framing her shift as a matter of national security and morally imperative.

Troye, who has become one of the most visible faces of a new movement, announced her congressional run in Virginia’s 7th congressional district on April 14.

J.P. Cooney

J.P. Cooney (Photo credit: J.P. Cooney LinkedIn)

For years, J.P. Cooney was a key figure in the federal investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents, serving as a veteran federal prosecutor and top deputy to Special Counsel Jack Smith.

However, his efforts to hold the president accountable landed him without a job after Trump fired him in early 2025. That pink slip was all he needed and was an immediate catalyst for change. He is now running for Congress in Virginia as a Democrat.

Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan

UNITED STATES – JANUARY 6: Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan attends the House Democrats hearing marking the five year anniversary of the attack on the Capitol, in the Capitol Visitor Center on Tuesday, January 6, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Geoff Duncan, elected as a Republican as lieutenant governor of Georgia from 2019 to 2023, spent years as a rising star in the Georgia GOP; that is until he eventually realized the party he loved had transformed into something he no longer recognized.

After standing his ground against pressure to overturn the 2020 election results, he found himself an outsider in his own house. So, he took matters into his own hands. He walked away from Republicans, officially joined Dems in 2025 and announced his bid for Georgia governor.

George T. Conway

FEBRUARY 5, 2020: A television screen shot during live CNN coverage of the President Donald Trump impeachment trial on February 5, 2020, shows attorney George Conway, a frequent Trump critic, reacting to the final vote in the U.S. Senate which acquitted Trump of two articles of impeachment. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

George Conway built his career as a conservative attorney and longtime Republican, known for his ties to the Federalist Society and his early support for GOP legal causes. He initially backed Trump in 2016 but soon became one of the most prominent conservative critics of Trump, co-founding the Lincoln Project—an action committee led by former Republicans dedicated to defeating Trump-ism at the ballot box— and arguing that Trump’s conduct was incompatible with constitutional principles.

His break with Trump was ideological and public, even while his wife, Kellyanne Conway, took the opposite path. A seasoned Republican pollster and strategist, she became a key architect of Trump’s 2016 victory as his campaign manager and later served as a senior counselor in the White House.

George T. Conway

WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 07: George Conway speaks onstage during the “Stand Up For National Day of Action for Science” rally on the National Mall on March 07, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Brian Stukes/Getty Images for Stand Up For Science)

After years of waging a one-man war against the administration on social media, Conway finally stepped away from the GOP and registered as a Democrat. (Speaking of walking away, he also divorced Kellyanne Conway in 2023 after 22 years of marriage.)

He’s now jumped into the race for New York’s 12th Congressional District, aiming to fill the seat left vacant by Jerry Nadler hoping to convince voters he’s the right candidate who knows how the other side really thinks.

While Conway moved sharply away from Trump, Kellyanne remained one of his most loyal defenders.

Eugene Vindman

WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 10: U.S. Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA) speaks during a Democratic Steering and Policy Committee hearing in the U.S. Capitol on April 10, 2025 in Washington, DC. Former employees from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) testified in front of House Democrats regarding President Donald Trump’s benefit cuts and mass layoffs. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

Similar to J.P. Cooney, Eugene Vindman was unceremoniously fired from the White House and pushed out of the military after being a key whistleblower regarding the 2019 phone call that sparked Trump’s impeachment in his first term.

The former army colonel decided to channel his frustrations into a run for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District as a Democrat. He’s betting that his background in the room where it happened will resonate with voters who are exhausted of the political chaos and looking for a fierce guardian of the Constitution.

Denver Riggleman

UNITED STATES – SEPTEMBER 30: Rep. Denver Riggleman, R-Va., conducts a news conference on the China Task Force report in the Capitols Rayburn Room on Wednesday, September 30, 2020. The report outlines bipartisan action to combat threats from China. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Denver Riggleman’s journey from a Republican Congressman to a prominent Democratic ally was paved with a refusal to ignore the data—literally.

As a former Air Force intelligence officer and a key advisor to the January 6th Select Committee, Riggleman spent years tracking extremism and disinformation within the party he once represented.

Denver Riggleman

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES – 2019/03/26: U.S. Representative Denver Riggleman (R-VA) seen speaking during the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference in Washington, DC. (Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

When his own local party censured him for officiating a same-sex wedding, he decided to leave his party and operate as an Independent working alongside Democratic leadership in the 2026 Blue Migration— a historic wave of Republicans and former Trump administration officials defecting to the Democratic ticket ahead of the midterms.

David Jolly

Former Republican Congressman David Jolly, who is running for governor as a Democrat, speaks to the Miami Herald at Hilton Miami Aventura on Monday, June 2, 2025, in Aventura, Florida. (D.A. Varela/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Former Florida congressman David Jolly once served as a Republican in the U.S. House from 2014 to 2017. After leaving office, he became an increasingly vocal critic of Trump, arguing that Trump’s grip on the GOP was reshaping the party in ways he just couldn’t get with.

David Jolly

UNITED STATES – OCTOBER 1: Rep. David Jolly, R-Fla., attends a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere hearing in Rayburn Building, October 1, 2014, on Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi who is imprisoned in Mexico. Tahmooressi, who suffers from PTSD, has been held in Mexico since being arrested in March for carrying guns across the border. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Jolly formally broke with Republicans in 2018, and seven years later he completed that shift, registering as a Democrat and launching a campaign for Florida governor.

Anthony Scaramucci

Anthony Scaramucci, founder and Managing Partner of SkyBridge Capital and former White House Communications Director, speaks during the Semafor World Economy 2026 conference in Washington, DC, on April 14, 2026. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)

Anthony Scaramucci briefly served as White House communications director under Trump in 2017, a tenure that lasted just 11 turbulent days but cemented his early reputation as a loyal Trump ally.

In the years that followed, he became one of Trump’s most outspoken Republican critics, citing concerns about character, governance and the direction of the party. Though he has not formally run as a Democrat, he has increasingly aligned himself with centrist and Democratic causes, framing his shift as a response to what he sees as a fundamental change in the GOP.