Republican Party of Florida "…comes off less like a joke and more like an intentional smear." The mascot symbol, historically, is the elephant. A political cartoon by Thomas Nast, published in "Harper's Weekly" on November 7, 1874, is considered the first important use of the symbol. In the early 20th century, the usual symbol of the Republican Party in Midwestern states such as Indiana and Ohio was the eagle, as opposed to the Democratic rooster. This symbol still appears on Indiana ballots. After the 2000 election, the color red became associated with the GOP although it has not been officially adopted by the party.
History of the United States Republican Party the 85–90% level, a shift which further convinced many white segregationists that the Republicans were no longer the black party. Some critics, most notably Dan Carter, have alleged that the rapid growth in Republican strength in the South came from a secretly coded message to Wallacites and segregationists that the GOP was a racist anti-black party seeking their votes. Political scientists and historians point out that the timing does not fit the Southern strategy model. Nixon carried 49 states in 1972, so he operated a successful national rather than regional strategy, but the Republican Party remained quite weak at the