Seventeen former staffers of former Republican President Ronald Reagan are endorsing Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.
In a joint statement first obtained by CBS News, staffers wrote that Reagan, had he been alive, would have supported Harris.
“President Ronald Reagan famously spoke about ‘a time of choice.’ While he is not here to experience that time, those of us who worked for him in the White House, in the administration, on campaigns, and on his staff know that he would join us in supporting the Harris-Walz ticket,” the group wrote. “The moment of choice we face today is a choice between integrity and demagoguery, and the choice must be Harris-Walz,” the group added. “Our votes in this election are less about support for the Democratic Party than about our unwavering support for democracy.”
More than 230 former officials from Republican Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush have also endorsed Harris, in addition to campaign staffers from Republican presidential candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney. Biden received similar GOP support during his 2020 campaign against Trump.
Former Reagan aides who are supporting Harris include Ken Adelman, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and director of U.S. arms control under Reagan, and B. Jay Cooper, Reagan’s special assistant and deputy press secretary. Adelman supported former President Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008, as well as President Biden’s campaign in 2020. He supported Republican Mitt Romney’s campaign in 2012, but opposed Trump’s campaign in 2016.
The list also includes Pete Souza, the chief White House photographer under Reagan and Obama.
The group says it is seeking to convince other former Reagan aides to support the Harris-Walz ticket, calling it “the only path to a strong and viable America for our children and grandchildren in the years to come.”
CBS News has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment. Trump has only received endorsements from a handful of Democratic officials who have since distanced themselves from the party, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who previously ran for president as an independent. ending his offer and endorsed Trump last month, as well as former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party in 2022.
In April 2021, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, launched a speaker series featuring several Republican presidential candidates who would later run against Trump in the 2024 Republican primaries. The library did not invite Trump to speak, telling Politico that this was because he was a former president and it wanted speakers who had not held that level of office.
Their support for Harris follows a a wave of support from Republican officialsincluding several staffers during Trump’s first term, as well as Former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, former Congresswoman Liz Cheney.
“We’re not the only ones taking a stand here. You’ve heard, many people who worked for Donald Trump have said they do not support Donald Trump being president again. And I think that speaks volumes, because we know him,” Olivia Troye, a former adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, said ahead of Tuesday’s debate between Harris and Trump in Philadelphia.
Troye, former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger and former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan all spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August.
The new endorsements come as Harris’ campaign struggles to shift support away from Trump in what remains a close-to-the-margin race in key states, according to CBS News PollOutside groups and the campaign have made a concerted effort to target voters in key states who voted for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in the Republican primaries earlier this year.
CBS News Poll Election results from Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin this month suggest that there are only a handful of undecided voters left. Harris and Trump have near-total support from voters in their party, though Harris has a slight edge over Trump among a handful of moderate voters in those states who believe there is still time to make a final decision.
“The choice between truth and lies demands support for Harris-Walz. The choice between freedom and the suppression of freedoms means support for Harris-Walz. The choice between serving the people and serving a minority means support for Harris-Walz,” the Reagan White House staffers wrote in the letter.
