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Election 2024
Sarah McCammon, NPR

'Republicans for Harris' want conservatives to vote Democrat in 2024 to topple Trump

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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speak at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Aug. 6.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speak at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Aug. 6.
Matt Rourke/AP

Prominent Republicans who are supporting Vice President Harris are urging fellow members of their party to back the Democratic ticket over former President Trump.

During a meeting billed as an online rally for “Republicans for Harris,” former elected officials and party leaders made a case for supporting Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday night.

Former Rep. Denver Riggleman, once a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, was an adviser to the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6th insurrection. He described Trump as an “inveterate liar,” and a “conspiracy theorist.”

“When you see the data and you see the awful things I’ve seen - you see the command-and-control infrastructure of Jan. 6th, there’s no way as a Republican that I could vote for anybody who’s anti-Constitution,” Riggleman said.

Several participants in the Republicans for Harris call said that while they don’t agree with all of Harris’ policies, they believe Trump would endanger American democracy.

“When the Harris team wins and prevents the sudden death of American democracy, we can joyfully return to arguing over marginal tax rates and the role of government in healthcare, and all the other issues that defined our politics for generations,” said Craig Snyder, who leads a group called Haley Voters for Harris.

Snyder’s group recently received a cease-and-desist letter from former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination. Noting Harris’ record as a former prosecutor, Snyder said he’s trying to make the case for Harris to former Haley supporters and other center-right voters that Harris and Walz will govern from the center-left.

Speakers also sought to cast themselves - rather than Trump supporters - as the true inheritors of the GOP tradition, invoking former Republican presidents including Ronald Reagan and the Bushes.

Austin Weatherford, National Republican Engagement Director for the Harris campaign, noted that President George W. Bush had described Trump as “weird” before Walz applied the term to the Republican nominee.

Rina Shah, a political strategist and former RNC delegate, framed a key voting issue for Democrats this year, abortion rights, in language designed to appeal to small-government conservatives. Shah referred to “draconian bans” supported by Republicans in multiple states since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

“When I see that happening, I think it’s antithetical to the Republican Party I came up in,” Shah said. “I don’t want the government in my backyard, my bedroom, my bank account and certainly not in the medical exam room.”

Overcoming the fear of stigma and rejection from Republican loved ones also emerged as a key theme.

Rosario Marin, who served as U.S. Treasurer under President George W. Bush, described voting for Trump as “unacceptable,” but acknowledged that voting for a Democrat may cause strained relationships for some people.

“It is not easy to vote outside your party,” she said. “You may lose friends. Your neighbors may disagree with you. Family gatherings may turn uncomfortable. But at the end of the day I can assure you that you will know in your heart that you did the right thing, and that it’s a worthwhile and noble cause.”

Former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh acknowledged that it “takes a lot of courage” for many Republicans to publicly break with their party, but argued it’s necessary.

“You have to publicly out yourself: ‘I’m a Republican; I’m a conservative, and I’m supporting Kamala Harris,’” Walsh said. “It takes courage, but remember - Donald Trump is unfit to be President.”

Organizers said more than 70,000 people joined the call live, where speakers urged Republican participants to get behind Harris through volunteering and publicly supporting her campaign.

Copyright 2024, NPR