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    The Republican Party's Upton is supporting Harris' presidential campaign
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    The Republican Party's Upton is supporting Harris' presidential campaign

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    5 minutes, 16 seconds Read

    West Michigan Republican and former U.S. Rep. Fred Upton is supporting Vice President Kamala Harris' bid for the White House in 2024, saying his party's nominee, former President Donald Trump, is divisive, unhinged and ” its colors have not changed”.

    “He watches Trump day in and day out and ignores the advice of many high-ranking and respected Republicans to stick to the issues,” Upton told The Detroit News.

    “Instead he keeps talking about how the election was stolen and women are being vilified left and right.

    Upton of St. Joseph, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 36 years, is the most prominent Republican in Michigan to publicly support the Democratic presidential candidate. He previously served as chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee.

    Upton has often split his vote, but this year was the first time he voted for a Democrat for president, something he has already done by mail-in ballot, he said.

    He spoke Wednesday with Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, with whom Upton served for 12 years in the House. Upton said he was confident a Harris administration would seek Republican advice and work together to address pressing issues from immigration to inflation in Ukraine.

    “They want to get things done and the only way to do that is to work on a bipartisan basis. I believe Harris has more ability to do this than Trump,” Upton said, adding that Harris already supports the Senate's bipartisan immigration package that Trump passed earlier this year.

    “I am confident that those of us who are willing to stand up now will be at the table as we try to find a way to resolve these issues. They are too important to ignore. … At some point the country managed to get ahead of the party, and that’s what this is about.”

    Upton began his political career in the Reagan administration, was elected to represent southwest Michigan in Congress in 1986, and retired in 2022. He was one of ten Republicans in the House of Representatives who defied his party when they voted to impeach former President Donald Trump following the January 6, 2021, attempted insurrection.

    Upton said he expected some pushback from Michigan Republicans to his decision, but said, “It's the right thing to do.” He was open to running for Harris but had no immediate plans to do so, he said.

    “I have no concerns,” he said. “I've been thinking about it for a while. Trump hasn’t changed his color.”

    Victoria LaCivita, the Trump campaign's communications director in Michigan, rejected Upton's endorsement Thursday.

    “Michigan families are worried about paying their bills, putting food on the table and saving for their children’s college tuition,” she said in a statement. “Every 'Republican' is committed to four more years of unrestricted illegal immigration and rising prices.” Kamala Harris is neither a Republican nor worth listening to.

    Vance Patrick, chairman of the Oakland County GOP, tweeted Thursday that the headlines in news articles supporting Upton “should read 'former Republican' since anyone who supports Kamala Harris is NOT a Republican. Plain, simple, period.”

    Upton joins a growing number of former Republican lawmakers and former Trump officials who are crossing party lines and warning about the dangers and risks of a second Trump presidency. Trump's former chief of staff John Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, also publicly spoke out this week against his old boss's return to the White House.

    More: “Just call me Fred”: Upton says goodbye to House after 36 years

    More: Harris says Trump is 'a fascist' after John Kelly said he wanted generals like Hitler

    With Michigan and other battleground states narrowly separated in the presidential race, the Harris campaign has worked in recent weeks to increase its reach among Republican-leaning and undecided voters in an effort to win them over.

    Harris campaigned in Michigan this week with former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming who has joined Harris on the campaign trail in swing states in recent weeks.

    At a theater in Royal Oak on Monday, the two were surrounded by banners reading “Country Over Party” and “New Way Forward,” which have been seen at other events with Cheney and other GOP supporters of Harris, a former U.S. senator from California , were shown. Cheney, who previously led the House GOP Conference, was a member of the House panel that investigated the Jan. 6 insurrection.

    In response, Trump lambasted Cheney as “dumb as a rock” and a “war hawk… who, like her father, the man who ludicrously pushed Bush to go to war in the Middle East, is also with every Muslim in it.” “A country known to mankind,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Monday.

    Trump has also attacked Upton over the years, celebrating in April 2022 when the longtime congressman announced his decision to retire after redistricting put him in the same district as another GOP colleague: “UPTON QUITS !” Trump wrote in a statement at the time. “4 down and 6 left. Others lose badly, who’s next?”

    Upton, a centrist, last year promoted the independent no-label campaign for the presidential nomination, which claimed Americans did not want another face-off between Trump and President Joe Biden in 2024 and aimed to market a third-party alternative bring.

    The No Label campaign collapsed in April after failing to recruit candidates who had a “credible” path to winning the White House.

    Upton was not involved in the launch of the Michigan Republicans' Harris-Walz campaign earlier this month, a group that included former U.S. Rep. Dave Trott of Birmingham, a lawyer who represented Michigan from 2015 to Represented in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2019.

    Other members of the group when it was formed included Jim Murray, former Michigan House deputy chief of staff Rick Johnson; and Bill Nowling, a consultant who has worked on electing GOP candidates for 30 years. They emphasized that Trump is only pursuing his own interests and is a threat to US democracy that does not respect the peaceful transfer of power.

    Susan Ford Bales, the daughter of former Republican President Gerald Ford, also endorsed Harris this week, and former state Rep. Marty Howrylak, R-Troy, has also endorsed her campaign.

    Harris has said she would appoint a Republican to her Cabinet if she wins the White House on Nov. 5.

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