In 2020, a similar group of about 150 George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney alums pledged their support for President Joe Biden, USA Today reported. The new letter, with 238 signatures, includes aides to both Bushes.
The current letter, obtained exclusively by USA Today, was released Monday, August 27, 2024. The letter noted that its 2020 declarations “stated the plain truth,” that re-electing Trump “would irreparably damage our beloved democracy.”
That was months before Trump’s lies about the election “became everyday talking points” and before he “incited an insurrection, cheering on a mob of sore losers and sycophants as they tried to use force to overturn the will of the American public,” the letter states.
We reunite today, joined by new George H.W. Bush alumni, to reinforce our 2020 statements and, for the first time, jointly declare that we’re voting for Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz this November.
Of course, we have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz. That’s to be expected. The alternative, however, is simply untenable.
These endorsements could help put Harris over the top. Exit polls and voter data show that “moderate Republicans and conservative independents in key swing states” were the ones who “ultimately delivered the presidency to Joe Biden” in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona, the letter says.
But wait, there’s more. On Friday, the day after Harris spoke at the Democratic National Convention, she was endorsed by a dozen prominent Republican lawyers who served in the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. From the Harris Walz campaign, via Fox News:
“We endorse Kamala Harris and support her election as President because we believe that returning former President Trump to office would threaten American democracy and undermine the rule of law in our country,” the lawyers wrote in a letter that the signatories shared first with Fox News Digital.
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The signatories added that “we urge all patriotic Republicans, former Republicans, conservative and center-right citizens, and independent voters to place love of country above party and ideology and join us in supporting Kamala Harris.”
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“Trump’s attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after losing the election proved beyond any reasonable doubt his willingness to place his personal interests above the law and values of our constitutional democracy.”
We cannot go along with other former Republican officials who have condemned Trump with these devastating judgments but are still not willing to vote for Harris,” they added. “We believe this election presents a binary choice, and Trump is utterly disqualified.”
All that is on top of the many prominent Republicans who endorsed Harris last week at the DNC.
