Bob Milligan, left, and Mac Stipanovich, right, both spent much of their careers engrained in the Republican party. They both voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. (Photo: Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix)
Former President Donald Trump’s character flaws have inspired two figures with deep roots in Florida’s Republican Party to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
Mac Stipanovich, chief of staff to former GOP Gov. Bob Martinez and adviser to Secretary of State Katherine Harris during the 2000 presidential recount in Florida, and Bob Milligan, former Florida comptroller and U.S. Marine Corps Pacific Fleet commander, have cast early ballots for Harris, they said Wednesday.
During a media availability organized by Harris’ Florida campaign Wednesday in Tallahassee, the two attributed their support for Harris to their distaste for Trump.
“The Republican Party I belonged to is a smoking ruin,” Stipanovich, who endorsed President Joe Biden in 2020, said.
“After two years of Donald Trump, my conscience and my gag reflex forced me to leave the Republican Party and become an independent,” Stipanovich said.
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The former Republican operative said he supports Harris for four reasons. The first, he said, is that she is “a decent, well adjusted, normal human being and not a megalomaniac who’s as crazy as a sprayed roach.”
Second, “she cares about someone other than herself.”
Third, “she’s well within the traditional mainstream of American politics.”
“She’s no more liberal than Franklin Roosevelt or Lyndon Johnson or Barack Obama were for their time. And she’s certainly more conservative in the true sense of the word than all of the right-wing radicals who are running amok in the country right now.”
Fourth, “and foremost,” “she’s not Donald Trump.”
Trump, Stipanovich said, “is a god-awful excuse for a man. And if he was your employee, you would fire him. If he was your neighbor, you would shun him. If he was married to your daughter, you would horse-whip him. More than that, he is a weak-minded Mussolini wannabe who fawns on dictators and autocrats who stand for exactly the opposite of what the country stands for.”
Trump a ‘loose cannon’
Milligan offered instances when he found Trump unfit for office, including when he called soldiers who died in World War I “losers” and “suckers;” the Access Hollywood tape in which he bragged about groping women; his guilty sexual abuse verdict; 34 felony hush money-related counts; and constant name calling of his opponents and those who do not support him.
“I’m here for one reason, and that’s his character. His character is so bad. I can’t believe anybody that really looks at it objectively, Republican, Democrat, or Independent, would vote for him.”
Milligan, 91 years old, said he “can’t vote for that 78-year-old loose cannon,” and that he has “a real problem” with Trump’s international policy.
“It’s just unbelievable to me, the way he kisses Putin’s ass, has no respect for NATO, withdrew from an agreement that was to keep Iran in check in terms of developing nuclear weapons and — hell, I probably could go on and on. He’ll throw Ukraine under the bus,” Milligan said.
Voter registration data at the end of September showed Republicans with more than one million more registered voters than Democrats. Stipanovich, though, pointed to history.
“As far as the registration margins are concerned, I would have you go back and look at how many Republican governors were elected when Democrat margins were just as big in terms of registration,” Stipanovich said. “People in Florida have kind of historically had the good sense to vote for candidates rather than just vote down party lines.”
Chair of the Florida Democratic Party Nikki Fried speaks to the media on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (Photo: Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix)
Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said the party would consider election day a “huge win” if voters eliminated the GOP supermajority in the Legislature and if amendments 3 and 4, putting rights to recreational marijuana consumption and abortion in the Florida Constitution, receive 60% approval.
Fried pointed specifically to a Florida Senate race between Republican Sen. Cory Simon and Democratic challenger Daryl Parks. The party has focused on the historically-Democrat Panhandle seat since the Republican won it in 2022.
“If on Nov. 5, at the end of the night, we wake up and we have gotten ourselves out of the super minority in the Florida House, that we were able to flip SD3 up here for Daryl Parks, we’re able to pass and make sure that Amendment 3 and Amendment 4 [pass], and that we have lowered the threat, the gap between Republican and Democrats when it comes to voting, yeah, that is a huge win.”
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