They’re moving left too, just more slowly compared to the coasts. If you go issue by issue (god, guns, taxes) the only major shift for republicans has been same sex marriage, where they’ve moved significantly to the left. Democrats meanwhile have moved sharply to the left across the board: https://jabberwocking.com/if-you-hate-the-culture-wars-blame.... For example marijuana is fully legal in North Carolinian, and medical marijuana is legal all across the Deep South. But in California, the legislature passed (though Newsom vetoed, with an eye to his presidential prospects) a bill allowing cities to have government-sponsored drug injection sites.