On Sunday, the Harris campaign unveiled its plan to win over Republican voters to mobilize swing state voters who voted for former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley — but the effort is not without obstacles. campaign’s Republican outreach efforts.
A source told NBC News that the campaign is reaching out to state political directors to reach out to Republicans in their districts. However, the source said the campaign is having trouble getting support from certain state leadership groups to lead the GOP campaign.
“That’s their dream, but I don’t think it’s actually going to happen at the level they want,” he said.
The source was concerned about Republicans getting behind Harris over some of his policy positions during the 2020 Democratic primaries, such as his Co-sponsored by the Green New Deal and his support for mandatory gun buyback programs. However, his change of position on some political issues reassured people.
On Sunday, the campaign announced a new push to reach out to GOP voters, including the creation of state advisory committees in battleground states, which it said will “play an important role in facilitating Republican-to-Republican voter engagement” as campaign door-knocking. , phone banking and events involving Republicans. As part of Sunday’s announcement, the Harris campaign said it will launch a digital campaign where Republican Harris supporters “make their case for Republicans online.”
During the 2020 election, the Biden-Harris campaign relied on independent, never-Trump groups to court GOP voters. This time, the 2024 campaign has created a special position to sue them, hiring Austin Weatherford, former chief of staff to Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a few months ago.
“Donald Trump’s MAGA extremism is toxic to millions of Republicans who no longer believe that Donald Trump’s party represents their values and will vote against him again in November,” Weatherford, the Harris campaign’s national director of Republican communications, said in a statement. “Donald Trump has said he doesn’t want these voters, but Vice President Harris and our campaign are working overtime to win the support of my fellow Republicans who want to defend democracy and restore decency.”
The campaign also announced a number of endorsements from Republicans, many of whom were already outspoken critics of former President Donald Trump, including former Gov. Bill Weld, R-Mass.; former Rep. Denver Riggleman, R-Va.; and former Trump administration press secretary Stephanie Grisham.
Republican surrogates will also attend events during Harris’ seven-state campaign this week, though the campaign has not specified which ones will appear.
When asked if the Harris campaign had any high-profile Republicans who could get a wife to endorse, the source said it was difficult to find people willing to endorse the Democratic ticket in 2020, and they suspected it would be even harder now. . This source believes that former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., will eventually endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, even though she was not included in Sunday’s campaign. The source also told former Harris campaign Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz. The president endorsed Joe Biden in 2020.
Neither Cheney nor Flake made a 2024 endorsement before Biden dropped out of the race.
If Cheney were to endorse Harris, he would once again be tied with former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., the only Republican besides Cheney to serve on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and a Trump colleague. critic.
“As a proud conservative, I never thought I would support a Democrat for president,” Kinzinger said in a statement. “But I know that Vice President Harris will defend our democracy and ensure that Donald Trump never returns to the White House.”
Similarly, Grisham said in a statement that “I may not agree with Vice President Kamala Harris on everything, but I know she will fight for our freedom.”
“I urge other Trump administration officials who see the tyrant we have in office to speak out and support Kamala Harris this November to preserve integrity in the White House and secure democracy for our country,” he said.
The endorsements come as the Trump campaign works Harris paint The former president reiterated his “dangerously liberal” stance when he called Harris a “radical left-wing lunatic” during a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday.
But Trump’s broad views haven’t swayed the Harris campaign, who previously worked in Republican politics and is familiar with GOP propaganda.
“I feel really comfortable with Harris doing everything we can to beat him,” the source said. “I think defeating Trump is the best way to achieve a healthy Republican Party.”