MALVERN, Pa. – The most prominent Republican politician who is backing Vice President Kamala Harris over former President Trump in the presidential election says there are many fellow Republicans who quietly support the Democratic candidate.
“They’re going to vote the right way on November 5th. They might not say it publicly, but they’re going to do what they know is the right thing to do,” former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney said Monday. ” said the team. He met with Harris at an election event in the battleground suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Trump maintains significant influence over the Republican Party, but if even a small number of Republicans support Ms. Harris, it will likely result in a close race in key battleground states and the resulting impact. It is possible to give
Harris, who has increased the volume of her efforts to woo disgruntled Republicans in the final stages of the presidential campaign, became the most prominent anti-Trump Republican on Monday in Pennsylvania as well as two other key battleground states. Their hands were folded. – Michigan and Wisconsin.
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Cheney, once a rising star in the conservative Republican Party, vowed to do everything possible to prevent the former president from returning to power following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“We have an opportunity to tell the whole world who we are, and we have an opportunity to say, you know, we’re going to reject the atrocities that we’ve seen. “We’re going to reject the vile abuse we’ve seen from Donald Trump and J.D. Vance,” Cheney said.
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“In this campaign, we have a chance to elect someone who will defend the rule of law. As you know, Vice President Harris will defend the Constitution,” she said.
Cheney said her support for the vice president “wasn’t a difficult choice at all” and that it was a decision she made as a mother. Harris hopes Cheney’s endorsement will help win support from Republican women who are hesitant to support their party’s presidential nominee.
Cheney is the daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney and once rose to a position in the House Republican leadership.
However, she said in early 2021 that the House of Representatives voted to impeach then-President Trump on charges of inciting the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which he and other right-wing extremists and others incited. He was the most prominent of the 10 Republican senators. Advocates aiming to disrupt Congressional certification of President Biden’s electoral victory in the 2020 election.
The conservative congressman and defense hawk soon came under verbal attack from Trump and his allies, and was ultimately forced out of the No. 3 position. House Republican leadership positions.
Cheney, who has been vocal in defending the country’s democratic process and emphasizing the importance of putting country over party, has not been a member of the special select committee formed by House Democrats to investigate the Capitol riot. He was one of only two Republicans to serve.
In 2022, she lost the Wyoming Republican Congressional primary to Harriet Hageman, a candidate backed by President Trump.
At a lecture held at Duke University in the battleground state of North Carolina in early September, Cheney announced that she would vote for Harris in the presidential election. Mr. Cheney’s father also supported Ms. Harris.
And Cheney officially endorsed Harris earlier this month when she teamed up with Harris on the campaign trail for the first time at an event in Ripon, Wisconsin.
Cheney wasn’t necessarily a fan of Harris.
The Trump campaign repeatedly pointed to Cheney’s social media posts during the 2000 election, saying, “Kamala Harris has a more liberal voting record than Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. The left’s view is that raising taxes, banning gun sales, funneling taxpayer dollars to abortion and medical care for illegal immigrants, and eliminating private health insurance would be disastrous for America.
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President Trump spoke with Fox News’ Bill Melgin at a rally in Michigan earlier this month, saying Cheney is a “terrible” and “stupid hawk. All she wants to do is shoot missiles at people.” ” he accused.
Regarding Cheney’s support for Harris, Trump said, “I think they’re hurting each other. I think they’re both very bad.”
And ahead of Monday’s event, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement that “Liz Cheney is just as unpopular with Pennsylvania voters as Kamala Harris, and is poised to catch up to President Trump’s lead.” It would be impossible to bring her to the Keystone State.” winning strategy. ”
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Cheney and her father are part of a list of prominent Republicans supporting Harris.
Two other prominent anti-Trump Republicans, former Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger and former Georgia lieutenant governor Jeff Duncan, took speaking roles at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago six weeks ago. Ta.
And Kinzinger and Duncan joined other prominent Republicans endorsing the vice president at an event with Harris in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, last week. This historic park marks the place where George Washington crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night in 1776, a turning point in American society. revolutionary war.
Bob and Christina Lange, lifelong Pennsylvania Republicans who introduced Harris at last week’s event, were part of a group sitting on the stage behind Harris and Cheney at Monday’s event.
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The Langes, who own a family farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania, have also appeared in Harris campaign commercials. The Langes say they saw a barrage of hate and derogatory messages after appearing in the Harris ad.
But in an interview last week, he said his Republican friends are saying, “They think the same way we do. They’re coming up to us and saying, ‘We’re behind you.'” Ta. They’re grateful for what we’re doing because a lot of people are afraid to speak out against Trump for revenge and other things. ”
While fielding a moderator’s question from the audience with Cheney at a theater in suburban Philadelphia, Harris said her administration “is not a continuation of the Biden administration. I’m bringing my own ideas, my own experiences. ” he said repeatedly.
And while the town hall-style event was aimed at speaking to suburban women, the vice president also appealed to younger voters after fielding questions from college students.
“I love Gen Z,” she emphasized.
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