One of my favorite politician stories is this: Back home, we had a Republican congressman who was conservative in most respects but there were two exceptions. First, he checked all the right boxes but by most accounts wasn’t especially religious. That was minor. The second one, which became major, is that he favored gun control. His father was killed by gun violence. He was facing regular grumblings of a primary challenge, and something needed to be done. So… what to do? Well, he changed his view on gun control and attributed it to having been Born Again.

He was never primaries again and now sits atop one of the most important committees in the House.