'We don't need this chaos': Two swing-state Republicans endorse Harris
The mayor of Waukesha, Wisconsin, and former Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton both endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday, saying Donald Trump is unfit to serve and Harris would bring the country together.
Both men come from critical swing states that could decide the 2024 election, and said they were speaking out publicly about their vote to provide a permission structure for other Republicans who are disgusted by Trump’s behavior to reject his candidacy.
"Watching Trump day after day, he's ignored the advice of many senior, respected Republicans to stay on the issues," Upton, 71, a moderate Republican from the Detroit suburbs who served in the House for 36 years, told The Detroit News. "Instead, he's still talking about the election being stolen, trashing women left and right. He's just totally unhinged. We don't need this chaos. We need to move forward, and that's why I'm where I am."
Upton said that Harris is the first Democrat he’s ever voted for for president.
“At some point, the country has to come ahead of party, and that’s what this is all about,” Upton said of his vote.
Meanwhile, Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly, whose district is a critical Republican stronghold in a swing state, said his vote for Harris is to stop Trump.
"It's difficult. The easy thing to do is just not say anything and cast my vote the way I want, but I think we're at a crossroads now," Reilly told a local Fox affiliate in Wisconsin of his vote. "I feel in my heart that this is something that I need to come out and say: I am going to be voting for Vice President Harris to become our next president.