‘Unprecedented historically’: Republicans campaign for Kamala Harris in Greensboro

Featured photo: (L-R) Greensboro resident Gopal Sundaresh, former John McCain staffer Robert Brown, former GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman of Virginia, former NC Justice Bob Orr, Winston-Salem businessman David Daggett and High Point resident Beth Coonce held at press conference on Oct. 3 urging Republicans like them to vote for Harris over Trump. (photo by Carolyn de Berry)

More than 40 years. That’s how long Beth Coonce has been a Republican. But these days, she doesn’t feel like the Republican party aligns with her values.

“I’ve been a Republican all my life,” Coonce told TCB. “I’m almost 70 now.”

On Thursday afternoon, Coonce, an attorney from High Point, joined a handful of seasoned politicians and other politicos in Greensboro at a press conference specifically featuring people like her: Republicans who are supporting Kamala Harris.

“I have deep concern about the potential of another Trump presidency,” Coonce said. “But it’s not a problem at all for me to vote for her.”

Other individuals at the conference also expressed Coonce’s sentiment , including former GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman of Virginia, former NC Justice Bob Orr, former John McCain staffer Robert Brown, Winston-Salem businessman David Daggett and Greensboro resident Gopal Sundaresh.

Like Coonce, many of the individuals expressed concern about the possibility of Trump being elected president once again.

Riggleman, who served as a one-term US representative for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, also served as a senior staffer on the US House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol.

“For me, seeing the data from Jan. 6, seeing the text messages, seeing the communications, I know what another Donald Trump regime would do,” Riggleman said. “We can call it that right now.”

According to the group on Tuesday, calling themselves Republicans for Harris, a growing number of representatives from their party are throwing their support behind the current vice president over Trump. And it has to do with concerns over rule of law, civility and common sense.

“I have never in my life seen the number of prominent members of one party come out and oppose the nominee of their party and publicly endorse the nominee of the other party,” said Orr, who served as associate justice of the NC Supreme Court from 1995-2004. “I think it’s unprecedented historically.”

While the group didn’t have exact numbers on how many people they have as part of their growing organization, online reports show that the shift by some Republicans to move away from Trump and into the Harris camp is growing.

On Thursday morning, news outlets reported that Liz Cheney, a former Republican congresswoman and daughter of Dick Cheney, will make the rounds with Harris at campaign stops this week. Last month, national news outlets published a letter that was signed by more than 100 former GOP officials in support of Harris. Among them were former Reagan staff members, Bush administration staff members, former US Rep. Adam Kinzinger and former Mike Pence staff lead Olivia Troye.

“I’ve never seen anything like that in my lifetime,” Orr said on Thursday. “And so it’s not just a kind of raw numbers deal. I think it’s the depth and scope nationally and here in North Carolina.”

On Mark Robinson, the tyranny of another Trump presidency

Despite the Trump campaign’s quick pivot away from supporting current NC Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson in the aftermath of explosive reporting by the Assembly and CNN last month, the group on Thursday made sure to note that Trump was a supporter of Robinson for years.

Standing in front of signs that read, “Trump Robinson, too extreme for NC,” featuring the two posing together, the group kept tying the two candidates as one.

“It’s only fitting that Mark Robinson and Donald Trump are each other’s biggest supporters as Trump continues to spread lies about the 2020 election and has said in his own words that he is running a campaign focused on revenge and retribution against his political enemies,” Orr said. “Mark Robinson said some people need killing. It spreads dangerous conspiracy theories.”

Daggett, a Winston-Salem businessman, said that he only got involved in politics because of Robinson.

“[He] disgusted me,” Daggett said.

Relatedly, the group pointed to Republican Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance’s lack of a response when asked whether Trump lost the 2020 election during this week’s vice presidential debates.

“It was an artful dodge, but truly revealed exactly what their beliefs are,” Orr said.

Orr and others also mentioned Project 2025 and how the Supreme Court’s decision back in July would mean any past or future president can’t be held accountable for “official acts” while in office. 

“There are no guardrails,” Orr said.

Why Republicans are leaving the party, supporting Harris

In addition to pointing out the dangers of another Trump presidency, the group also talked about how the party is no longer one they recognize.

“This isn’t the Republican party I grew up with,” Orr said. “This is the MAGA party; it’s the Trump party.”

Coonce agreed. As a lifelong Republican who supported John Kasich for president in 2016, she said what drew her to the party was its stances on strong foreign policy and practical solutions. Now, she feels it’s become a divisive place that has no respect for the rule of law.

Riggleman has a new name for the GOP. 

“It’s the old party,” he said. “Not the grand old party.”

Riggleman, who called Trump a sexual predator, convicted felon, conspiracy theorist, a Jan. 6 pardoner and a lover of Putin, said that other Republicans should reconsider supporting Trump.

“I think any normal conservative Republican would think that those five things would be enough not to vote for Donald Trump,” he said. 

Robert Brown, the former McCain staffer, stated that for him, the party he once served “no longer exists thanks to Donald Trump and his MAGA movement.”

“Donald Trump and his handpicked candidate for governor Mark Robinson… have denigrated the party that I knew and made it one of extremism and loyalty to one man: Donald Trump,” Brown said. 

Orr quipped that it was the moment that Trump disparaged the late Sen. McCain that he drew the line in the sand.

“That was it,” Orr said.

For Daggett, the divisiveness of Trump’s rhetoric has pushed him out of the party and into the Democratic camp, even if it’s unfamiliar territory.

“As a lifelong Republican, it’s a little hard to be up here behind this sign,” Daggett admitted as he stood at the podium affixed with a Harris-Walz sign.

But he pointed to economic policies that the Harris-Walz campaign has pushed and argued that their plans would help the middle class, something that Trump wouldn’t do.

“I’m fiscally conservative,” Daggett said. “The Harris-Walz plan has fiscal responsibility built into it. If you want to strengthen the middle class, which we all believe in, you want vice president Harris.”

Coonce echoed Daggett’s stance that Harris is better for the middle class. She pointed to how some of her staff at the law firm are struggling, including a single mother who works for her. She noted how the Harris-Walz plan includes help for homebuyers and child-care credits. For Greensboro resident Gopal Sundaresh, the appeal of an American dream is why he made the trip to the US almost two decades ago.

“I chose to become a United States citizen by choice,” Sundaresh said. “I chose to make this my home because of the principles of this country…. It’s a huge magnet for everyone around the world.”

Sundaresh, who moved to the US in 2005, said he voted for Trump in 2016.

“I saw what he did, he squandered it all away,” he said. “It’s all about him. There are many people like us who are recent immigrants… who believe in the promise and future of America, and that’s not with Trump.”

On the path forward, convincing others to join

Throughout the conversation the group made distinctions between themselves and other Republicans who are sticking behind the former president. At one point, Riggleman said that “there’s no way that a person who’s sane, who has a rational thought, an IQ above moron, could actually vote for Donald Trump.”

And yet, polls show that anywhere between 40-50 percent of people continue to support him. Riggleman cited right-wing extremists like Charlie Kirk, Nick Fuentes and others who continue to create an echo chamber, and a well-oiled media machine in support of the Republican nominee. 

“There’s an element that will not be moved,” Orr agreed. 

He noted how there will be many Republicans who will always support Trump and align with his misogynistic or racist rhetoric. The group hopes to persuade just 3-5 percent of current Trump supporters, Riggleman said.

“That’s what we’re fighting for,” he said.

In order to do that, he said that it will take “house-to-house fighting” and “compassionate confrontation.”

As a brewery owner, Riggleman said that it’s about one-on-one conversations to get them to change their minds.

“It’s inviting everyone as Americans,” Riggleman said. “And then you’re just very confrontational in a compassionate way if they want to bring up nonsense. You’ve got to be brave enough to do it.”