Vice President Kamala Harris has scored a new endorsement from a prominent Republican as she seeks to lean on them to beat Donald Trump in the upcoming elections.
It comes from former Michigan Rep. Fred Upton, who served for over three decades in the Lower House and retired in 2022 after voting to impeach Trump. He said he has already cast his vote to support the Democratic candidate.
Upton released a statement saying that Trump is "unfit to serve as commander in chief again," holding him responsible for the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. "(Trump) directly jeopardized the peaceful transition from one administration to the next," he added.
The former lawmaker went on to urge other Republicans to ditch Trump, saying that "time and time again, respected senior Republicans have urged our former president to focus on governing rather than personal attacks, mistruths and continued false 2020 election claims." However, "instead of heeding that advice, we see unhinged behavior not acceptable in most forums almost daily."
Harris' campaign director in Michigan, Ed Duggan, called Upton's endorsement a "courageous and honorable decision to put country over party." The Democrat holds a slim advantage in the battleground state, leading by 0.7 percentage points according to FiveThirthyEight's aggregator. The gap has been narrowing over the past weeks, having reached 3.4 percentage points in late August.
Upton joins a growing list of Republicans who have publicly endorsed Harris, another recent case being that of Shawn Reilly, the mayor of conservative Wisconsin stronghold Waukesha.
Reilly, who has been a lifelong Republican, recounted his departure from the party on January 6, 2021, the day when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. "It's difficult. The easy thing to do is just not say anything and cast my vote the way I want," he said. "But I think we're at a crossroads now. I feel in my heart that this is something that I need to come out and say: I am going to be voting for Vice President Harris to become our next president", told Reilly to FOX6 News.
Reilly described his endorsement as a "vote against Trump," voicing his fears about Trump potentially returning to the presidency. "I am terrified of Donald Trump becoming our next president for all the reasons I have indicated: he's already been impeached twice. He's been convicted of felonies, and this is not what the United States needs," he said.
Other prominent figures who have taken similar steps include former high-ranking House Republican Liz Cheney, who warned against electing Donald Trump as president, agreeing with the claim that he is a "fascist" and making ominous warnings about a potential second term of his. Cheney campaigned with Harris in Brookfield earlier this week, where Reilly was present in support.
Charlie Sykes, one of Wisconsin's most prominent conservative voices for more than two decades, has also expressed his support for Kamala Harris in the upcoming elections. "I don't think this is a normal election, so I'm doing something that I have to admit would have been a big surprise to me even a few years ago," said Sykes, now a political commentator in MSNBC. Additionally, former Tarrant County Judge Glenn Whitley, known as one of the state's most prominent Republican leaders, is also voting blue in the 2024 elections.
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