A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Since Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee, Republicans for Harris coalitions have launched in several swing states. They want to galvanize support for Harris among Republicans wary of former President Donald Trump. The thing is, they're also reluctant to vote against the party they've long belonged to. From the Democratic National Convention, here's NPR's Ben Giles.
BEN GILES, BYLINE: In Chicago, there's a growing list of Republicans bucking the GOP in favor of Harris, from former Congressman Adam Kinzinger to Republican strategist Ana Navarro, to Rich Logis, a conservative commentator from Florida who describes himself as an ex-MAGA activist. He addressed the convention Monday evening via video.
RICH LOGIS: So this is my message to all the Republicans and independents who are watching, people like me who voted for and believed in Trump. I made a grave mistake, but it's never too late to change your mind. You don't need to agree with everything you hear tonight to do what is right.
B GILES: Beyond Chicago, the Harris campaign is trying to harness that growing dissatisfaction with Trump and disenchantment with a Republican Party molded in his MAGA image by creating an inclusive environment for Republicans to support the Democratic ticket. Republicans like Kinzinger have lent their voice to the movement in places like Arizona. Voters who select candidates from different parties could be the deciding votes in a once solidly Republican state President Joe Biden won by roughly 10,000 votes four years ago.
ADAM KINZINGER: While we may not agree with Kamala Harris on all policies or even most of the policies, in my mind this is about, do we want our kids and our grandkids to be raised in a democracy that is as healthy as the one we were raised in or not? And I think I do.
B GILES: On a Zoom call to rally more Arizona Republicans to Harris' cause, Kinzinger acknowledged there's plenty to disagree with the vice president about when it comes to policy. But those concerns are secondary to what he called the imminent threat of a second Trump term in the White House.
KINZINGER: If I'm sitting in a trench and I have an enemy that's 5 meters away and I have an enemy that's 40 meters away, well, I'm going to focus all my attention on the guy that's 5 meters away from me. That's my threat. And that's what we're doing now is that threat to democracy. That 40 meters away are the things we disagree about. We can deal with that later.
B GILES: In Arizona, the effort is growing by word of mouth. When the state coalition of Republicans for Harris launched more than two weeks ago, it boasted about 40 members. Membership doubled in about 48 hours, according to the Harris campaign, and now has about 100 Republicans backing the vice president. The Republicans in control of the state party view this as nothing short of betrayal. And the reaction has been merciless and, in some instances, vulgar. The Maricopa County Republican Committee formally censured the local Republicans in the coalition. And State Senator Jake Hoffman, the leader of the local Freedom Caucus, described them as prostitutes as well as another similar term. To Mesa Mayor John Giles, it's the kind of behavior that underscores his disillusionment with the party under the reign of Trump.
JOHN GILES: I didn't leave the Republican Party. I'm still a member of the Republican Party, but I believe in a lot of ways the Republican Party left me.
B GILES: The once big tent of the Republican Party, Giles says, is getting smaller and smaller. So for now, he'll join the Harris and Walz cause. Giles is scheduled to speak to the convention this evening. He'll deliver a message like the one he shared at a Harris rally in the Phoenix suburbs last week. Republicans owe nothing to a party he says has abandoned them.
J GILES: And by all means, you owe no displaced loyalty to a candidate that is morally and ethically bankrupt.
(CHEERING)
B GILES: It's a matter, he says, of putting country over party, at least for now, to stop Trump.
Ben Giles, NPR News, Chicago.
MARTÍNEZ: And a note - reporter Ben Giles is of no relation to Mesa Mayor John Giles.
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