A growing number of Republicans are crossing party lines to back Vice President Harris — and not looking back. On Wednesday, former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he was endorsing Harris and her running mate Tim Walz, saying electing them was the only way “to move forward as a country.”
“I will always be an American before I am a Republican,” he wrote in a lengthy post on X. “That’s why, this week, I am voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.”
Schwarzenegger’s hardly alone: He joins former vice president Dick Cheney and hundreds of officials in the George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan administrations who shared similar sentiments. GOP strategist Sarah Longwell has called this flurry of endorsements unprecedented.
“It helps establish a permission structure for them to vote their conscience by supporting Kamala Harris, or at least leaving the top of the ticket blank,” she told The Washington Post. “For an election that is likely to be decided by the narrowest margins, every one of these voters matters.”
So here’s a rundown of some key Republicans who will vote for Harris.
Notable Republicans Endorsing Kamala Harris’ Presidential Campaign
Arnold Schwarzenegger
In what marked a rare move, Schwarzenegger admitted that he wasn’t a fan of either party but warned that another Trump presidency would only sow division and lead to “four more years of bulls‑‑‑.”
“We need to close the door on this chapter of American history, and I know that former President Trump won’t do that,” he wrote. “He will divide, he will insult, he will find new ways to be more un-American than he already has been, and we, the people, will get nothing but more anger.”
Without referring to Trump by name, he also criticized the former president, writing that “rejecting the results of an election is as un-American as it gets.”
“To someone like me who talks to people all over the world and still knows America is the shining city on a hill, calling America…a trash can for the world is so unpatriotic, it makes me furious,” he said. “And I will always be an American before I am a Republican. That’s why, this week, I am voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” Schwarzenegger said.
Schwarzenegger has been a vocal critic of the businessman over the years. Shortly after the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, he likened the deadly riot by the pro-Trump mob to the violent attack in Nazi Germany called the Kristallnacht. He also condemned Trump as a “failed leader.”
Barbara Pierce Bush
Barbara Pierce Bush backed Harris and has even campaigned in Pennsylvania on the vice president’s behalf.
“It was inspiring to join friends and meet voters with the Harris-Walz campaign in Pennsylvania this weekend,” Bush told PEOPLE on Tuesday. “I’m hopeful they’ll move our country forward and protect women’s rights.”
It’s no secret that Bush hails from Republican royalty — her dad, George W. Bush, and grandfather, George H.W. Bush, were the last two Republican presidents before Trump took office. While her parents have opted to stay out of the political fray, the 42-year-old has supported Planned Parenthood in the past, though she also told PEOPLE in 2010 that she doesn’t identify with either major party.
Liz and Dick Cheney
Speaking of political dynasties, former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney revealed in September that she was voting for Harris and later campaigned with Harris in Ripon, Wisconsin, the birthplace of the Republican Party.
“As a conservative and as someone who cares and believes in the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this, and because of the danger Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris,” she told a roaring crowd.
But this ringing endorsement didn’t come as a surprise — she was one of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
Her dad, Dick Cheney, who served as vice president under President George W. Bush, also broke with the party to support Harris, warning that Trump is a threat to Democracy.
“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Cheney said in his endorsement. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.”
Jimmy McCain
Army 1st Lt. Jimmy McCain, the son of late GOP Sen. John McCain, has also backed Harris, calling the altercation between Trump’s campaign staff and workers at Arlington National Cemetery the last straw.
In case you missed the controversy, the Army accused a Trump staffer of pushing an Arlington employee aside as they tried to warn his team about rules against filming in the cemetery. “The point of Arlington Cemetery is to go and show respect for the men and women who have given their lives to this country. When you make it political, you take away the respect of the people who are there,” he told CNN after the incident, which was prohibited under federal law.
In response, McCain said he changed his voter registration from independent to Democrat. “I feel that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz embody a group of people that will help make this country better. That will take us forward. That’s really what matters at the end of the day,” he said.
Staff of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush
Seventeen former Reagan staff members endorsed Harris, writing in a joint statement that if their ex-boss was alive, he would have offered her his own endorsement. “The time for choosing we face today is a choice between integrity and demagoguery, and the choice must be Harris-Walz,” the group said in part.
More than 230 former officials for Republican presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush have also backed Harris, in addition to campaign staffers for Republican presidential nominees John McCain and Mitt Romney.
Trump’s ex-staff members
Former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham supported Harris in a speech at the Democratic National Convention, saying that she “tells the truth” and “respects the American people.”
“Now here I am behind a podium advocating for a Democrat, and that’s because I love my country more than my party.”
Anthony Scaramucci — aka “The Mooch” — endorsed Harris in July, saying that she has a “capable” and “great team.” After his brief 11-day stint as the White House communications director, Scaramucci went from being one of the former president’s most prominent supporters to one of his fiercest critics. Much of this rift was prompted by Trump’s racist attack against Democratic women of color and his response to the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, which Scaramucci described as “a catastrophe.”
Cassidy Hutchinson, who testified against Trump during a blockbuster hearing before the Jan. 6 Committee in 2022, said she plans to support the Harris-Walz ticket because a candidate’s character matters. “So I say to Republicans who may be on the fence: I understand how frightening it can be to potentially break with your party,” Hutchinson said. “But Donald Trump and JD Vance cannot be trusted with the Constitution, they cannot be trusted to uphold our rule of law, and they can’t be trusted to enact responsible policy.”
Former Republican members of Congress
At least 30 ex-GOP lawmakers have backed Harris as part of her campaign’s initiative to court moderate Republicans. This notably includes former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger and former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who both previously backed President Biden when he was the Democratic nominee.
In a statement in August praising Walz becoming Harris’ vice-presidential nominee, the group said: “They will prevent Trump and Vance from implementing the dangerous Project 2025 plan that puts America’s freedom and democracy at risk.”
