Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak at a campaign rally in Atlanta on July 30, 2024.
CNN —
The groupknown asRepublicans for Bidenis officially relaunching Sunday asRepublicans for Harris,andaideson the revamped Democratic campaignare hoping that a much different candidate will be able to deliver on whathad beena key part of Joe Biden’s electoral promise.
The rollout will include outreachfrom Republicans to Republicans, targeted ads and themed events as aides aim to convince voters that Kamala Harris is not a “San Francisco radical”and thatDonald Trump and others havechanged. In an electionthat isonce again looking tight, the Harris campaign ishoping that Republicans repelled by Trump and independent moderates can help makea difference for the vice president in critical states.
At its core, the latest effort targets Republicanswho see Trump as anathema or the kind of existential threat to democracy thatwouldcompelthem to cross party lines andwhohad bought into Biden as an acceptable alternative.
Aides who have been shifting from @joebiden.comto @kamalaharris.com email addresses acknowledge now that the outreach to these Republicans had becomedifficult as confidence in Biden spiraled afterhis dismal debate performance.A post-debate call with supporters of Trump’s former GOP primary rival Nikki Haley was marked by several expressions ofdiminished confidence in Biden, another reflection of how deepthe president’sproblems were, according to one person involved.
Butthe Democratic energy around the switch to Harrisis now reaping benefits, aides say.
“There’s a lot of excitement, because I think people were feeling unsure of where things were going, and now they are all on board,” said Austin Weatherford, a onetimechief of staff to former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzingerof Illinois. Weatherfordhad just started gearing upwiththe Republicans for Biden effort in June when the racetook a turn.
Weatherford told CNNthat while Biden was“providing the alternative” on the topic ofpreserving democracy,“now people just see it more clearly. They feel it more clearly.”
On Monday,the new groupwill holdkick-offevents in Arizona, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, aides toldCNN. Already signing on as supporters: former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld (the 2016 Libertarian nomineefor vice presidentwho then challenged Trump in the 2020 Republican primary), former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, Kinzinger, former Virginia Rep. Denver Riggleman, former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh (who also challenged Trump in the 2020 primary) and former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham.
Former Rhode Island Rep.Claudine Schneider, who now lives in Colorado and has been leading efforts to organize other former Republican members of Congress, told CNN via email that she believes Harris is “the PERFECT candidate to oppose Trump,” calling her “intelligent, honest, hard working”and someone who “genuinely cares about every citizen, and about justice.”
Schneider saidthatshe is interested in changing the political conversation back toward compromise andthat the character differences between Harris and Trump are very much on her mind and the minds of others she’s spoken to.
Harris aideshave quickly announcedchangesto many of her previous more liberal positions.Those include her past support for defunding the police, banning fracking and a federal jobs guarantee that is part of the Green New Deal. She is a different kind of candidate in a different kind of race,her aides nowargue, and they hope that voters will respond differently this fall than they did toher bid for the2020Democratic presidential nomination, which creaked to an end just after Thanksgiving 2019.
A print production specialist at a print shop in Tucson, Arizona, cuts a run of Harris yard signs on July 25, 2024.
“Harris has been doing that work. Now she’s in overdrive doing that work,” Weatherford said. “There’s limited time for her to make that case, but she’s making it. The more we see of her, speaking to the issues where the broader base of the general electorate is, you’re going to have more people fall in line.”
As for worries that Harris is too liberal, Schneider said, “I have a hard time these days in the application of the terms liberal and conservative — especially suggesting that addressing climate change is ‘liberal’ and other uses of conservative.”
Schneider, who served 10 years in the House from 1981 to 1991, said likeminded Republicans“are working toward a decisive trifecta for the Democrats”this year,referring to helping the opposing partyretain the presidency and the Senate and flip the House.Their reasoning, Schneider said, was“so that 1) we can actually move our country forward and 2) give us time to resurrect a Republican Party that reflects the values of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan.”
Campaign aides say Harris has been receiving support from Republicans whohadn’t previously beenfor Bidenas well as from those who had. FormerGeorgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a CNN contributor who previously said he was voting for Biden, backed Harris inan Atlanta Journal-Constitution op-edlastweek, declaring that “though my support for Harris didn’t come easily, it did come naturally” and calling her “the best vehicle toward preventing another stained Trump presidency.”
Trump’s problems with past Republican leaderswas evidentat the GOP convention in Milwaukee last month:Noliving previousGOPnominee for president or vice president attended, including former President George W. Bush.
All of those past party leaders have expressed concerns, publicly or privately, about Trump — yet none had been supporting Biden, and to date, nonehave backed Harris.
The closest any has come is a social media postfrom Trump’s former vice president turned intense critic, Mike Pence, who two weeks ago praised Biden for dropping out of the race.
“After the assassination attempt on President Trump and President Biden’s decision to end his campaign, now is a time for leaders in both parties to project calm and send a message of strength and resolve to America’s friends and enemies alike,” Pence wrote.
In the time since, though, Pence has added several posts critical ofHarris’ positions on taxes and job growth.
While Trump and his campaign have not done much to try to win over Democrats, Weatherford and other Harris aides will be leaning on former Trump administration officials,who will speak about how unfit for office they see him;oncurrent and former Republican elected officials, who will speak about how the MAGA takeover meansthe partyno longer represents traditional GOP values and principles; andonrank-and-file Republican women, who will put out testimonialsonwhy they’re rejecting Trump.
“We want Republicans talking to Republicans,” Weatherford said, “because we think that’s the best way to make it work.”
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect the correct spelling of former Rep. Denver Riggleman’s last name.
