An unprecedented movement called Republicans For Harris has swept across the land, picking up former powerful leaders in the party as well as former grassroots leaders and Republican voters who are endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for President 2024.
For the past month, hardly a day goes by that some Republican official or group doesn’t step forward to publicly endorse Harris: Liz Cheney and her dad Dick Cheney; Adam Kinzinger, Geoff Duncan, J. Michael Luttig, John Giles, George Will, Denver Riggleman, Barbara Comstock, Jim McCain, Jim Greenwood, Alberto Gonzales, and hundreds of staffers, former GOP officials, national security leaders, and alumni from the Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43, Romney, and McCain administrations, to name a few.
Earlier this week a bipartisan group of former Governors urged that the 2024 election certification be submitted by the December deadline, stressing that the process “is not open to debate” (Former governors urge successors to certify election results [1] – Politico). That came as Trump and MAGAs at state levels have threatened the 2024 election with announced plans to illegally replace Electors with fake MAGA Electors. Signatories on the letter included Virginia’s former Republican Governor George Allen and Florida’s former Republican Governor Jeb Bush.
On Wednesday, there was yet another urgent call for unity, this time from 100 former Republican national security and foreign policy officials [2] who endorsed Harris, noting that their own party’s nominee was “unfit to serve again.” It was the latest such repudiation by top GOP leaders of the Republican candidate in what is shaping up to be an historic appeal for the ages to vote country over party. These are the insiders. They know the stakes could not be higher.
As the movement gains momentum, the unprecedented number of Republicans who have come together to endorse Kamala Harris is something that is amazing and gratifying and, hopefully, more will join them. “… political scientists say the Harris endorsements reflect a real and growing split between the conservative Reaganites who built the modern Republican Party and the Trump faction that’s now in charge,” wrote the Charleston City Paper [3].
After a decade of Trump, most are exhausted and ready for rational sane leadership, and are willing to break the norms to defend democracy. Already millions have chosen to be on the right side of history by choosing country over party in this pivotal election year.