More than 200 staffers of four former Republican presidential candidates have endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris’s candidacy for the White House, warning that the idea of a second term for Republican candidate Donald Trump is “simply untenable” and “would hurt ordinary people.”
In an open letter first reported by USA Today on Monday, 238 people who worked for former President George HW Bush, former President George W. Bush, former Arizona Senator John McCain and Utah Senator Mitt Romney are calling on their “moderate Republican colleagues and conservative independents” to join them in supporting Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, over Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio.
“Of course, we have many honest, ideological differences with Vice President Harris and Governor Walz,” the Republicans wrote, pointing to the importance of a handful of swing states that were crucial to Democrat Joe Biden’s narrow victory in 2020. “That was to be expected. But the alternative is simply untenable.”
The signatories include Reed Galen, a former George W. Bush and McCain campaign staffer who co-founded the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project, and Olivia Troye, a former George W. Bush aide and homeland security adviser to Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence. The positions represented range from chief of staff to intern.
“Four more years of Donald Trump’s chaotic leadership,” the signatories warn, “this time focused on pursuing the dangerous goals of Project 2025, will harm the people and weaken our sacred institutions.” The letter continues: “Broad, democratic movements will be irreparably endangered as Trump and his aide JD Vance kowtow to dictators like Vladimir Putin and turn their backs on our allies.”
In a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the letter “hilarious because nobody knows who these people are.”
“They would rather see the country burn to the ground than see President Trump successfully return to the White House to make America great again,” Cheung added.
Many of these signatories also published a letter in 2020 supporting Biden’s candidacy over Trump.
Winning support from the other side of the political spectrum has become a tactic for Trump and Harris as Election Day approaches. Several Republicans, including Mayor John Giles of Mesa, Arizona, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham, spoke in support of Harris at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last week.
In recent days, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who recently suspended his independent presidential bid, and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, both considered fringe figures in the Democratic Party before they dropped out, have endorsed Trump. On Tuesday, Trump campaign spokesman Brian Hughes said Kennedy and Gabbard had been added to Trump and Vance’s transition team.
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Meg Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.
