'Never Trumpers' coalesce behind Dem ticket in Republicans for Harris campaign
Former anti-Trump Republicans, or "Never Trumpers," are now supporting Vice President Kamala Harris, who is aiming to reposition herself as a moderate while moving away from her past progressive positions.
The campaign, originally known as Republicans for Biden, officially relaunched as Republicans for Harris on Sunday with several former lawmakers on board, including former Trump White House officials Stephanie Grisham and Olivia Troye.
While the Trump campaign has focused on highlighting Harris' progressive background during her tenure as the California attorney general, Harris' campaign is now shifting gears to frame her more moderately while distancing itself from positions she once championed, all while painting former President Trump as "extreme."
When reached for comment, a Trump campaign spokesperson said Trump "is building the largest, most diverse political movement in history because his winning message of putting America first again resonates with Americans of all backgrounds."
"Kamala Harris is weak, failed and dangerously liberal, and a vote for her is a vote for higher taxes and inflation, open borders and more war," the Trump campaign told Fox News Digital.
THE MEDIA'S SUDDEN REJECTION OF KAMALA HARRIS' 'BORDER CZAR' LABEL
In a campaign press release, national director of Republican outreach, Austin Weatherford, described Trump as "toxic" to "Republicans who no longer believe the party of Donald Trump represents their values and will vote against him again in November."
"Donald Trump said he doesn’t want these voters, but Vice President Harris and our campaign are working overtime to earn the support of my fellow Republicans who care about defending democracy and restoring decency — all of which would be torn away in a second Trump presidency," Weatherford said.
Other figures ditching the Republican campaigning for Harris' include former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld — who previously challenged Trump in the 2020 primary, former Reps. Adam Kinzinger, Jim Greenwood, Claudine Schneider, Tom Coleman Denver Riggleman and Joe Walsh, another previous Trump challenger.
"Serving as his chief spokesperson and one of the longest-serving members of his team, I saw firsthand the lengths Trump was willing to go to stay in power as he did on January 6th, and the lies he so easily told Americans for the length of the Administration. I might not agree with Vice President Kamala Harris on everything, but I know that she will fight for our freedom, protect our democracy, and represent America with honor and dignity on the world stage," Grisham, Trump's former White House press secretary, said in a statement.
"I was a proud Republican, but Donald Trump is unfit to lead our nation," Whitman also said in a statement.
Former GOP Washington state chair and state Sen. Chris Vance, Reed Howard of Young Republicans for Harris, and former RNC delegate Rina Shah are also among Harris' supporters.
To garner attention during her primary run for president in 2019, Harris catered to the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.
She discontinued that campaign in December that year, and just months later, in the summer of 2020, aligned more with the new radical ideals pushed by Democrats following George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis and the Black Lives Matter anti-police protests and riots that rocked the U.S. afterward.
In resurfaced clips that began airing in ads by Republican David McCormick’s campaign for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, Harris is seen on camera opposing fracking, stating she would "think about" abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), describing hiring more police officers as "wrongheaded thinking" and weighing the proposal of permitting felons to vote. Harris is also seen saying she was in favor of a "mandatory buyback program" for guns and said private health insurance should be eliminated, according to a summary of the ads’ content by the New York Times.
ABORTION, 'FREE' EDUCATION AMONG TOP ISSUES FOR HARRIS VOTERS
On fracking, which is particularly important to the economy in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state during the 2024 race, the Harris campaign reversed course on Friday. An official with Harris’ re-election campaign told The Hill that she will not seek to ban fracking if she is elected president.
That contrasts with what Harris told CNN while campaigning for the 2020 presidential nomination.
"There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking," Harris said at the time.
A Harris campaign official told the Times that Harris staffers plan to paint Republicans who drudge up Harris’ past statements espousing left-wing ideas as exaggerated claims or lies about Harris’ record. The campaign also plans to paint Harris as a candidate with deep ties to law enforcement by highlighting her record as a local prosecutor and state attorney general in California, according to the newspaper.
Harris is facing one of the most crucial weeks in her two-week presidential campaign thus far, as she is expected to pick her running mate by Tuesday. Harris and her VP nominee will then travel across several battleground states to court voters as the latest national and key battleground state polls are now showing a margin-of-error race between Harris — who replaced Biden on the 2024 ticket after increasing internal pressure in the Democratic Party — and the former president.
Fox News Digital's Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.