Democrat Sen. Evan Jenkins from Cabell County, West Virginia switched parties to run for Congress as a Republican.  West Virginia Republicans do appear on the edge of supplanting the electoral lock held by Democrats in the state for decades.

Marshall University Political Science Professor and Department Chair
MaryBeth Beller, PhD. said this move could open up a dialogue in a
state that has been dominated by the Democratic Party.

“West Virginia has a long standing history of being a one
party state what that meant is that people who are more ideologically
aligned with the Republican party often had to register and compete as
democrats in order to win seats,

West Virginia GOP Chairman Conrad Lucas believes Jenkins is just the first politician to take this step.

“With Senator Jenkins announcement today that opens the
floodgates. It gives a lot of folks who didn’t want to be the first the
first to make this decision to be public about their views on their own
party and our party,” Lucas said.