Why some conservatives are voting in Michigan's Democratic primary

RAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Katey Morse is on a journey of political atonement.

"I've gone on Facebook and apologized to family and friends and said hey, I made a mistake," the 39-year-old Michigan resident said last year of her 2016 vote for Donald Trump.

Morse said that she got caught up in Trump's celebrity and was impressed by his business record. And she assumed that the bravado she saw and heard on TV was just a character put on for the campaign trail that would subside once he got into office.

But she said she had learned since then that it wasn't an act. A turning point for her came in March 2019, when she took her son to a Trump rally. She was horrified. Afterward, Morse had to have a conversation with the boy, then 7, about how not to talk about other people.

And as the Democratic primary season began to take shape last year, Morse started to consider voting blue.

It's a choice some moderate Republicans across the state are also grappling with ahead of Tuesday's Democratic primary contest. NBC News spent time with voters in Kent County, where Morse lives, just outside Grand Rapids. The hometown of Gerald Ford, the area is a traditionally Republican stronghold. Some Republicans here said they feel lost because they no longer recognize the party they grew up with. They're wary enough about another four years of Trump's presidency to consider the Democratic candidates.