[Wytwwww]

> Mississippi has been a reliable Republican voting block since the parties switched platforms in the 60-70’s.

In presidential elections? Yes. On the local level the Democrats controlled the Mississippi House of Representatives every single year until 2011 (almost the same for the Senate).

Even federally, the Democrats usually won most of the house seats (occasionally all 5 of them like in 90, 92) until 1998. Last time they won the majority was in 2010.

> So republicans don’t need to spend money there to get votes.

Only over the last ~10 or so years (and the Democrats still have 1 mostly safe seat there).

The party "switch" wasn't really a switch to such a huge extent on the local/state level. The Southern Democrats lost most of their relevance on the national level but locally the it didn't really happen until the generation that held offices in the 60s retired/died out

IMHO even nationally it wasn't even that obvious, the Democrats "abandoned" the South but the Republicans more or less just stuck to the same positions that were mostly mainstream in the party for the last 20-30 years outside of the progressive wing. On the whole even Nixon was relatively progressive and liberal by modern Republican standards (probably much too progressive considering his stances on healthcare reform and the environment).