WASHINGTON —
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign launched the “Republicans for Harris” movement on Sunday to win over Republican voters disappointed by Donald Trump’s candidacy.
The program will be a “campaign within a campaign,” according to Harris’ team, and will use well-known Republicans to activate their networks, with a particular emphasis on primary voters who backed former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley. The program will kick off with events this week in Arizona, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Republicans supporting Harris will also appear next week at rallies with the vice president and her soon-to-be-named running mate, the vice president’s team said.
Harris’ team shared details of the program with The Associated Press before making the official announcement.
The intent is to create “a permissive structure” for Republican voters who would otherwise find it difficult to vote for Harris. The effort relies heavily on outreach to Republican voters, with the belief that the best way to get a Republican to vote for Harris is to hear it directly from another Republican making the same decision.
“Trump’s extremism is toxic to the millions of Republicans who no longer believe Donald Trump’s party represents their values” and will vote against him again in November, said Austin Weatherford, Harris’ national Republican outreach director. He said the campaign “will show up and take the time every day to earn the vote of Republicans who believe in putting country before party and who know that all Americans deserve a president who protects their freedoms and a commander in chief who puts the interests of the American people above his own.”
Weatherford was chief of staff to former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket before President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump. Kinzinger has endorsed Harris again as part of the pitch.
“As a proud conservative, I never believed I would support a Democrat for president,” he said in a statement. “But I know that Vice President Harris will defend our democracy and ensure that Donald Trump never goes to the White House.”
