Republican lapel buttons. Photo by U.S. Consulate General Barcelona via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0
Two dozen Wisconsin Republicans, including former lawmakers, other former elected officials and a GOP sitting district attorney, have signed an open letter declaring their support for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in her campaign for president and condemning the Republican nominee former President Donald Trump.
The Harris campaign released the letter early Thursday, describing it as the product of months of outreach by the campaign and by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to Republicans.
“We, the undersigned, are Republicans from across Wisconsin who bring the same message: Donald Trump does not align with Wisconsin values,” the letter says. “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 was released as part of the launch of a formal Wisconsin Republicans for Harris-Walz organization, with just over a month to go before the Nov. 5 election.
“Wisconsin Republicans for Harris-Walz will play a pivotal role in facilitating Republican-to-Republican voter contact,” said the Harris-Walz campaign announcement Thursday. Through phone banking and networking with “Republican organizations, businesses, and community groups,” the GOP-oriented group will focus “in part on the more than 120,000 Wisconsinites who voted against Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary earlier this year,” the campaign announcement said.
Trump’s Wisconsin primary opponent, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, finished with more than 16% of the vote in Ozaukee, 12% in Washington and 14% in Waukesha counties.
The letter and the announcement coincide with a Harris campaign trip Thursday to Ripon, Wisconsin, the birthplace of the Republican Party in the 19th century.
The letter makes clear that the signers do not intend to change political parties.
“We have plenty of policy disagreements with Vice President Harris. But what we do agree upon is more important,” the letter reads. “We agree that we cannot afford another four years of the broken promises, election denialism, and chaos of Donald Trump’s leadership.”
The single current office holder signing the letter is Tom Bilski, the district attorney for Buffalo County. Other signers include three Republican former members of the Wisconsin Legislature: Former Sen. Barbara Lorman, Fort Atkinson, and former Reps. Margaret Lewis of the Town of Middleton and Susan Vergeront of Sun Prairie.
Also signing are former Brown County Republican Chair Mark Becker, former Iowa County Sheriff Steve Michek and Tracy Ann Mangold, former Republican Party secretary for the 8th Congressional District.
The balance of the 24 signers of the letter do not list current or former political titles. Their home towns include Madison, Milwaukee, communities in Southeast Wisconsin, northern outlying suburbs of Milwaukee, Appleton and Hudson among other places.
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