* Sun-Times…
Aiming to woo GOP voters who reject Donald Trump, the Kamala Harris campaign on Sunday launched “Republicans for Harris,” including from Illinois: former Gov. Jim Edgar, former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and ex-Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Joe Walsh.
Vice President Harris’ campaign said the “campaign within a campaign” will send GOP endorsers on the road, kick off on-the-ground organizing efforts and use paid ads “to reach, persuade, and mobilize Republican voters.” […]
The Illinois four and the others can appeal to various persuadable Republicans who are not part of the Trump MAGA movement.
* Edgar has never supported Trump. LaHood was considered a moderate in DC, but his congressional voting record was likely too conservative for Illinois (and I told him as much years ago). Kinzinger has always been a conservative, and he stands on principle. For instance, from 2022…
* CBS 2…
Chris Tye spoke with Walsh, who shared why he thinks more establishment Republicans are willing to take this leap now.
“Many of these Republicans were not enthused about Joe Biden, and so I think Kamala Harris, who’s had a hell of a 17 days now, has really, I think, garnered a lot of enthusiasm among some Republicans that she can win,” he said. “Donald Trump is the odds-on favorite to get elected. For Kamala Harris to win, she got to put together this coalition of far-left progressives to never Trumper Republicans.”
Walsh believes that being part of the movement means they will likely never be elected to Republican office again, which is why so many of those taking the leap are former and retired elected office holders.
Walsh didn’t invent Republican victimhood and phony outrage, but he took it to a whole new level when he was in office and for quite a while after he was booted by Democrat Tammy Duckworth.
* Anyway, AP…
The Harris campaign shared the details of the program first with The Associated Press before the official announcement.
Biden’s team is trying to create “a permission structure” for GOP voters who would otherwise have a difficult time voting for Harris. The effort will rely heavily on Republican-to-Republican voter contact, with the belief that the best way to get a Republican to vote for Harris is to hear directly from another Republican making the same choice.
Trump’s “extremism is toxic to the millions of Republicans who no longer believe the party of Donald Trump represents their values” and will vote against him again in November, said Harris’ national director of Republican outreach, Austin Weatherford. He said the campaign would be “showing up and taking the time every single day to earn the vote of Republicans who believe in putting country over party and know that every American deserves a president who will protect their freedoms and a commander in chief who will put the best interests of the American people above their own.”
Weatherford is a onetime chief of staff to former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who had endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket before President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump. Kinzinger is backing Harris once more as part of the launch.
Thoughts?
- Learning - Monday, Aug 5, 24 @ 8:03 am:
Oh….it’s Ray LaHood. Lost my mind for a second. Haven’t heard Ray LaHood’s name in years.
- Downstate - Monday, Aug 5, 24 @ 8:37 am:
“Haven’t heard Ray LaHood’s name in years.”
Edgar was governor 25 years ago. Nearly 1/2 of Illinois’ current voting age population were under the age of 18, when Edgar last ran.
- Dan Johnson - Monday, Aug 5, 24 @ 8:40 am:
Biden Republicans were a big part of his 2020 coalition. If they were unenthusiastic about Biden in 24 but enthusiastic about Harris, that’s another very positive sign.
- wildcat12 - Monday, Aug 5, 24 @ 8:47 am:
This is smart. I believe there are many Republicans who will vote for Kamala quietly but continue to support Trump publicly for fear of retaliation within their party, community, family, etc. Perhaps this will give them “permission” to be more vocal about their choice.
- Flyin'Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Monday, Aug 5, 24 @ 9:02 am:
Sorry, guys, but you ain’t Republicans no more.
If Edgar appeared at a GOP fundraiser south of 64, he would be greeted with boos and shouts of RINO.
- former southerner - Monday, Aug 5, 24 @ 9:05 am:
Elvis, I think you need to move that line north to somewhere between I74 and I80. Edgar was coming in as governor when I moved to Illinois and it is republicans like him, Adam, and Ray who remind me of the party I used to proudly support years ago.
- fs - Monday, Aug 5, 24 @ 9:24 am:
==Sorry, guys, but you ain’t Republicans no more.==
And that line is why Republicans in this State are now nothing more than powerless seat warmers at the capital, with steady shrinking of the number of seats they warm. They didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left them.
- Holding Back - Monday, Aug 5, 24 @ 9:29 am:
Look at the loss of the seats in the collar since Edgar. Whatever the GOP is doing is not working
- Julie Morris - Monday, Aug 5, 24 @ 9:52 am:
Didn’t those four guys used to hang out with Al Capone? Jim Edgar should have been prosecuted.
- Arsenal - Monday, Aug 5, 24 @ 10:04 am:
Good, though hardly surprising, names for IL. But of course, IL is already the closest thing to a lock for Harris.
- Arsenal - Monday, Aug 5, 24 @ 10:06 am:
==If Edgar appeared at a GOP fundraiser south of 64, he would be greeted with boos and shouts of RINO.==
The problem is, who else does ILGOP have? Yeah, it’s pretty silly how much we all look back to Edgar, but every prominent Republican since him has been thoroughly discredited.