I think he flipped after being given an offer around Jan/Feb this year.
I think hunter’s texts unlock all of this. Hunter was in deep shit and was given an offer in late 2018 or early 2019. Joe originally was not going to run in 2019. But hunter told Joe he needed him to run or he could not redeem himself. Joe announced he was going to run April of last year.
I think both hunter and joe flipped, not because they wanted to but because they had to.