It won’t just be Democrats speaking at their convention in Chicago this week. Several Republicans have also received key speaking spots.
While some of the biggest names among Republicans opposed to Donald Trump have remained on the sidelines, others will be taking to the United Center stage throughout the the week to lay out the case for why they’re there – and why they think other conservatives should join them in voting for Kamala Harris.
Two prominent speakers are from key battleground states: John Giles, the mayor of Mesa, Arizona, and Geoff Duncan, the former lieutenant governor of Georgia.
Both have already endorsed Harris. They’ll be joined by Olivia Troye, a former Trump White House national security official who joined Harris for an event in Michigan just a few days before Joe Biden dropped out of the race. CNN previously reported that former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger will speak on Thursday evening ahead of Harris. (Both Duncan and Kinzinger are CNN contributors.)
“I’ve been a Republican all my life. But since Donald Trump refused to accept the results of the 2020 election, the Republican Party has spiraled further and further into political extremism,” Giles said.
Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican who spoke at the 2020 Democratic convention by video, will not speak at this year’s gathering.
Liz Cheney, the former No. 3 House Republican who broke with Trump after January 6 and calls his return to power a threat to the Constitution, is not expected to speak. She posted on social media over the weekend about going to a Taylor Swift concert in the United Kingdom with her daughter, and a spokesperson did not return a request for comment about her plans. Her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, has said that “there has never been a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump” but has not commented on this year’s election.
George W. Bush, the only other living Republican president, has been critical of Trump in private but has also not spoken publicly about how he’ll vote.
But the Harris campaign is trying to keep the focus on more regular Republicans who have been turned away by Trump. The convention will also include a video from former MAGA activist Rich Logis and remarks from Kyle Sweetser, a Republican from Alabama.
“We will be putting patriotic Republicans front and center in our convention programming to explain, in their own words, why they are putting country first and supporting Vice President Harris,” said Austin Weatherford, the campaign’s national engagement director for Republicans for Harris.
Appealing to Republicans over protecting democracy was a key part of Biden’s strategy before he ended his reelection bid. It’s less front and center for Harris, but the numbers remain the same: There are enough anti-Trump Republicans in each of the battleground states to make up the margin of victory in races that are expected to be tight.
“There is a place in our coalition for voters who reject the extremism of Donald Trump and want to protect our democracy,” a Harris-Walz campaign aide said.