Republicans in Arizona who oppose Donald Trump are forming a new task force to reach out to other GOP voters in the swing state who feel alienated by the MAGA movement.
The Republican mayor of Mesa, John Giles, appeared at a press conference Monday to launch a new advisory committee to “engage Trump-skeptical Republican voters,” according to Harris’s campaign.
“I think the time has come for us as Arizona Republicans to admit the obvious, and to start saying the quiet part out loud, which is that our party’s nominee is not qualified for office,” Giles said, joined onstage by other Republicans.
Giles endorsed Harris over Trump last week in an opinion column in The Arizona Republic. “Now more than ever, we need leaders who will put country over party,” Giles wrote.
Former state Republican Representative Robin Shaw also voiced her support for Harris at the event Monday. “It is time to put partisan loyalties aside, and vote for the leadership that will truly represent who we want to be in the eyes of the world. Character matters,” Shaw said.
The event is part of Republicans for Harris, a new program announced Sunday by Harris’s presidential campaign. Similar events are scheduled to take place Monday in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
The roll out of the “campaign within a campaign” seeking to court anti-Trump Republicans also included endorsements from 25 prominent GOP members from across the country, including former governors, lawmakers, and former Trump administration officials.
Former Trump Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, who is also from Arizona, said she would be backing Harris.
“I might not agree with Vice President Kamala Harris on everything, but I know that she will fight for our freedom, protect our democracy and represent America with honor and dignity on the world stage,” Grisham said in a statement.
Harris’s campaign is hoping to capture moderate Republicans, whom Trump has actively sought to remove from his party. Trump also previously claimed that his party is probably 100 percent MAGA, but that’s obviously not the case.
In a swing state such as Arizona, that difference could prove to be important.
Democrat Ruben Gallego, who is running against MAGA Republican Kari Lake in Arizona’s Senate race, released a list of 39 prominent Arizona Republican and independent voters who had pledged to support him. Several included on the list were former aides to the late Senator John McCain, an outspoken Trump critic. Giles also announced his support of Gallego.
“I cannot in good conscience stand on the sidelines while extremists like Kari Lake, who have hijacked our party for the sake of personal gain, undermine the very fabric of what makes America exceptional,” said Giles in a statement released alongside Gallego’s list of endorsements.
A new poll released Monday—seemingly the first large-sample poll of Latinos since Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee—found that Harris holds a nearly 14 point lead over Trump among Hispanics in Arizona.
