Former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney, McLean, Virginia, January 6, 2022 (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Center for Creative Photography/University of Arizona)
Former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney will campaign with Vice President Kamala Harris Thursday in Ripon, Wisconsin — the birthplace of the Republican Party.
As Nov. 5 rapidly approaches, the Democratic presidential nominee continues to rack up support from prominent Republicans as she and former President Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, battle it out for the Oval Office in a tight contest.
Thursday’s campaign event also coincides with two dozen Wisconsin Republicans endorsing the veep in an open letter.
“We, the undersigned, are Republicans from across Wisconsin who bring the same message: Donald Trump does not align with Wisconsin values,” they wrote. The group included a sitting GOP district attorney for the Badger State’s Buffalo County as well as everyday Wisconsinites, former state lawmakers and elected officials.
“To ensure our democracy and our economy remain strong for another four years, we must elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the White House,” the letter said, adding that the choice for Republicans in November is “a choice between the Wisconsin values of freedom, democracy, and decency that Vice President Harris and Governor Walz represent, and Donald Trump’s complete lack of character, divisive rhetoric, and extremism.”
Wisconsin is a critical swing state that’s flipped between red and blue in recent elections — with Biden narrowly winning in 2020 after Trump secured a GOP victory in 2016.
Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, endorsed Harris last month, saying: “As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this, and because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris.”
Cheney — a vocal Trump critic — served as vice chair of the U.S. House Jan. 6 committee tasked with investigating the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
She lost her reelection bid for Wyoming’s lone House seat to Harriet Hageman in 2022 during the state’s GOP primary.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, father of Liz Cheney, also said he would vote for Harris. The prominent GOP figure served as veep during the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2009.
Left to right: McCain for President 2008 North Carolina State Director Robert Brown, former Virginia Republican Congressman Denver Riggleman, former NC Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, and Winston-Salem businessman David Daggett (Photo: Harris campaign video feed)
Republican and former Republican Harris supporters gather in Greensboro
Republicans and former Republicans held a press event in Greensboro on Wednesday to make their case for defeating Donald Trump. Each of the speakers — former Virginia Republican Congressman Denver Riggleman, former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, 2008 North Carolina McCain for President State Director Robert Brown, and Winston-Salem businessman David Daggett — argued forcefully that whether or not voters agree with Harris on every issue, they must stand against the threat to democracy and the rule of law that they say Trump represents.
In explaining his support for the Harris-Walz ticket, Riggleman said, “we can talk about their sanity, their morality and the fact that they’re rational” and that, “we don’t want to go back to the ridiculous policies, we don’t want to go back to the lying, we don’t want to go back to the conspiracy theories, we don’t want to go back to the criminal who’s a felon in Donald Trump.”
Orr, who was elected to the state courts as a Republican four times and once sought the GOP nomination for governor, said he left the party in the aftermath of the January 6th insurrection and believes Trump has grown even more dangerous since he left office.
Brown, who described himself as “a proud Republican for most of my life,” said, “the party I once proudly served no longer exists thanks to Donald Trump and his MAGA movement.” Brown called Trump a “wannabe dictator who traffics in hate and division.”
Daggett, who said he voted in the March North Carolina primary against Trump and Robinson, said, “Donald Trump, Mark Robinson, the MAGA movement — they are bad for the people, bad for North Carolina, bad for our country.”
All four men also made a point of linking Trump to North Carolina Republican gubernatorial nominee Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the January 6 insurrection, and the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which they say is the blueprint for a second Trump administration.
More GOP endorsements
Harris has received endorsements from over 230 Bush-McCain-Romney alums and more than 100 Republican national security officials, per the Harris campaign, a backing they describe as a “historic GOP mobilization for Harris.”
Part of the growing group of Republicans backing Harris includes Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump.
During an interview on MSNBC Wednesday night, Hutchinson said she’s “really proud, as a conservative, to have the opportunity to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in this election.”
Hutchinson also disclosed that she’ll be voting for Democrats in the House and Senate, saying she thinks it’s “so important that we get past this period of Donald Trump for America to begin healing.”
Trump in Michigan
Meanwhile, Trump is also heavily campaigning in swing states. He was set to hold a Thursday afternoon rally in Saginaw, Michigan.
The Democratic National Committee released multiple billboards in Michigan ahead of his rally, with a focus on Trump and his running mate, Ohio GOP Sen. J.D. Vance, continuing to deny the 2020 election results.
During Tuesday’s vice presidential debate between Vance and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vance circumvented a question on whether Trump lost the 2020 election, saying he, himself, is “focused on the future.”
Walz, who posed the question to Vance, called his response a “damning non-answer.”
A version of the DNC billboard is also set to debut in the coming days in Wisconsin and North Carolina to coincide with Trump’s upcoming rallies in those swing states.
Rob Schofield contributed to this report.