Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney is out campaigning hard for Kamala Harris, but she also believes millions of Republicans will quietly vote for the vice president over Donald Trump come November.
The conservative former lawmaker and Harris make an odd pair on the campaign trail, but on Monday, they hit the road together for a series of events in the battleground states that make up Democrats’ so-called blue wall.
Speaking at a campaign event in suburban Oakland County, Michigan outside Detroit, Cheney said while she is making the public case for Republicans to vote for a Democrat, she won’t be the only one.
‘I certainly have many Republicans who will say to me “I can’t be public.” They do worry about a whole range of things regarding violence, but they’ll do the right thing,’ Cheney said.
‘If you’re at all concerned, you can vote your conscience and never have to say a word to anybody, and there will be millions of Republicans who do that in November,’ she claimed.
Republican former Congresswoman Liz Cheney claimed that millions of Republicans will be quietly voting for Vice President Kamala Harris in November
Her remarks came at an event moderated by journalist and Kennedy family member Maria Shriver as Harris looks to win over GOP voters including those who supported Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary as part of her coalition in the tight race.
‘I have seen a lot of Republicans go up to Liz Cheney and thank her,’ said Harris, seated next to the congresswoman.
She praised Cheney for her ‘extraordinary courage’ for speaking out post January 6 despite what she called the ‘undercurrent that is violent in terms of the language and the tenor.’
‘I’ve seen Republicans come up to her and from my vantage point, she’s not alone,’ Harris said.
Vice President Harris said that she has seen Republicans quietly going up to Cheney not in public and thanking her for speaking out
Cheney is one of multiple anti-Trump Republicans who have been out campaigning for Harris ahead of the election.
It is Cheney’s first time voting for a Democrat. Her father former GOP Vice President Dick Cheney also supports Harris in the 2024 race.
On Tuesday, former Republican President Gerald Ford’s daughter Susan Ford Bales became the latest Republican to publicly endorse Harris.
She noted that she likely disagrees on some policy matters but said she has the right principals that guided her dad and should be in the White House over Trump.
Cheney said of the election on Tuesday ‘I think that we are facing a choice in this election. It’s not about party, it’s about about right and wrong.’
The Democratic vice president and conservative former GOP lawmaker held a series of events in battleground states on Tuesday including one in Royal Oak, MI as Harris looks to win over Republicans to help her in a tight race for the White House
She was asked if the decision to speak out openly in support of Harris was scary, but she denied that it was.
‘It wasn’t scary at all in terms of making this decision because when I look at the nature of the threat that Donald Trump poses, Cheney said.
‘Donald Trump is doing everything he can to try and get people to forget about what he did, what he did on January 6, and when you think about that level of instability, the level of erratic decision making, the misogyny, that’s not someone you can entrust with the power of the Oval Office,’ she explained.
Cheney said she could have just done everything she could to work against Trump and said a lot of Republicans have said that but argued she is ‘very proud and I’m honored’ to endorse Harris.
During the event, a former Republican member of Michigan’s House asked about national security and what the U.S. could do to deter Russia from continuing its war in Ukraine.
The conversation with Harris and Cheney in Michigan was moderated by Maria Shriver, a Democrat from the Kennedy family who once served as California’s first lady while married to Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. She noted her own experience while touting the bipartisan event
National security is one of the policy issues the two women agree on.
Harris said the U.S. has taken a position as a leader on international rules and norms and must stand in support of one of the most international norms which is ‘protecting sovereignty and territorial integrity.’
She pointed to ‘huge difference’ between her and Trump on the issue and said on matters of national security it’s not about partisanship.
‘It’s about where should America stand in terms of supporting our allies and standing for certain principles,’ the vice president said.
Cheney warned there has been a ‘really dangerous embrace of isolationism’ and tyrants in the Republican party. She also slammed Trump and said he ‘heaps praise on the world’s most evil people’ while he ‘attacks his political opponents with venom here at home.’
The conservative Republican said the U.S. has led since World War II but cannot do it alone and need their allies and slammed Trump for suggesting the U.S. might get out of NATO.
‘For anybody who is a Republican who is thinking that they might vote for Donald Trump because of national security policy, I ask you please please study his national security policy. Not only is it not Republican, it’s dangerous,’ Cheney said.
‘And without allies, America will find our very freedom and security challenges and threatened,’ she continued before warning ‘don’t think that Congress can stop him.’
As she spoke Harris nodded along in agreement.
Some 15 million have already voted in the election
The series of events come as more than 15 million people have already cast ballots in the 2024 election, and new polling shows Kamala Harris is surging ahead among those who have already voted.
The vice president leads Donald Trump roughly two-to-one with 63 percent to the ex-president’s 34 percent among those who have already voted in the presidential election, according to a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll.
Across the country, many voters are taking advantage of early in-person voting which is already underway in a number of states and kicking off in more states this week. Voters also have the option to vote-by-mail in a number of states by absentee ballot.
A poll taken October 14-18
In the crucial swing states of Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina, more than one million ballots have already been cast. Florida early voting has also already passed the one million votes mark.
Overall, a third of voters who responded to the poll said they plan to vote early. Among them, Harris lead 52 percent to 39 percent over Trump.
But among those who prefer to wait until Election Day to vote, Trump has the lead 52 percent to 35 percent.
However, overall the race appears extremely close. The poll found Harris at 45 percent and Trump at 44 percent.