Original sentence: Byrd of West Virginia.In the 1960s, the courting of white Southern Democrat voters was the basis of the "southern strategy" of the Republican Party's Presidential Campaigns.Regardless of the power struggle within the Democrat Party, concerning segregation policy, the south remained a strongly Democrat centric voting block for local, state and federal Congressional elections.Republican Presidential Candidate Barry Goldwater carried the Deep South in 1964, despite losing in a landslide in the rest of the nation to President Lyndon B Johnson of Texas.Senators Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms switched parties and joined the Republicans.Serveral others remained in the Democrat Party and went on to become prominent Democrat Senators.The only Democratic presidential candidate after 1956 to solidly carry the Deep South was President Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election.These former Dixiecrats, turned Senators, went on to serve multiple terms in the service of their respective states.These long careers in the Senate elevated their seniority putting them in positions of power and prestige.This was not true of Presidential elections.Today, one original member of the Dixiecrat Party remains in public service as a Senator, Robert C
Edited sentence: In the 1960s, the courting of formerly Democratic white Southern voters was the basis of the "southern strategy" by Richard Nixon.Nevertheless, the split in the Democratic party was permanent, eventually resulting in the loss of the South as a Democratic stronghold after 1956.Republican Barry Goldwater carried the Deep South in 1964, despite losing in a landslide in the rest of the nation to Lyndon Johnson of Texas.The only Democratic presidential candidate after 1956 to solidly carry the Deep South was Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election.Thurmond, and many other Dixiecrats, later joined the Republican Party