Tea Party members continuously maintained that they were non-partisan and would vote for Dems or Independents IF they had the same values and policies that the Tea Party reflected and were in favor of....it's not THEIR fault that the majority of those running with those values and policies were overwhelmingly Republican.
So BOTH groups are pretty much the same regarding those values, principles, and values and will STILL vote/support ANY party running for office with those same ideals.
It's called CONSERVATISM, JP..........what the liberal left Democrats of today don't want, don't understand, don't agree with, and are perfectly content to be openly Socialists like Sanders and Warren or hidden Socialists like BO, HC, and too many in Congress and in the Senate and our college professors. They are the 'hippies' of old who realized they couldn't win the fight from outside the DC/government walls so they decided to take a bath, change their clothes and hairstyles, don masks of 'propriety', and fight from within instead.
We now have people like John Kerry.....a 'decorated' VietNam officer who threw his medals over the WH fence, publicly spit in the eye of his fellow military band, and is now Secretary of State making decisions regarding our National Security.
The Tea Party members are mostly the same age group as these radicals in leadership positions and we have long memories..........we were there and saw what they did to our country back then and recognize how dangerous they really are.....We just had/have to keep reminding others and teaching the new generation the ramifications of the radical future they can expect. And it's working....slower than we'd like, but working nonetheless.