ATLANTA — In a presidential reelection where every vote could matter, President Biden and Former President Trump They are reaching out to key constituencies to try and gain an advantage in an eventual photo-finish.
It aims to win over a small but potentially significant segment of moderate Republicans who are dissatisfied with Trump as their party’s flag-bearer. Biden’s campaign On the eve of the first presidential debate, the endorsement of former Illinois GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger was revealed.
The former military pilot and Iraq war veteran, who turned into a prominent Republican Trump critic after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters aimed at overthrowing Congress’ certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory, on Wednesday charged that the former president is “a direct threat to every fundamental American value” in a video announcing his support.
A few hours later, standing at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta, Kinzinger said that “if you would have told me three years ago that ‘you’re going to be supporting a Democrat for president in three years,’ I probably wouldn’t have believed you.”
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Former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, center, speaks at a Biden campaign news conference in Atlanta on Wednesday. With him are, from left, former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and Georgia Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler. (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)
“But let me tell you, the importance of this moment is enormous,” Kinzinger said.
Kinzinger was joined at the news conference by former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, another outspoken GOP Trump critic, former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and Georgia Senate Democrat leader Gloria Butler.
“It’s not easy as a Republican to go against the grain and support Democrat Joe Biden for president, but I’m not looking at this election from the perspective of being a Republican,” Duncan said. “I’m looking at it from the perspective of being an American. An American who cares more about the future of my country than my party’s (morally) bankrupt candidate.”
Support of Kinzinger And the news conference came on the same day the Biden campaign launched a new ad in key battleground states that takes aim at Trump over his actions during the attack on the U.S. Capitol three and a half years ago.
In the ad, first shared with Fox News on Wednesday, Sheriff Chris Swanson of Genesee County, Michigan, discusses how he watched in horror as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and attacked Capitol Police officers.
Swanson stressed, “As a sheriff, it’s horrible to see police officers attacked. That’s not what this badge and this uniform stands for. I have no desire to work with someone who creates division. That’s not what America is about.”
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The ad, the endorsement and the news conference were all part of the Biden campaign’s effort to pressure the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to address “Donald Trump’s assault on American democracy.”
Biden has long accused Trump of being a threat to democracy and has made it a central plank of his presidency, and he has pressed on the issue as he seeks a second term in the White House. Biden is likely to raise the issue in his first speech on Thursday. Presidential debates Between the two major party flag bearers.
It’s an effort that could help the Biden campaign persuade some Republicans who backed former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary to consider voting for the Democrat this fall.
Former Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger speaks to Fox News after addressing a Biden campaign news conference at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta on Wednesday. (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)
“There’s still a group of Republicans who are very uncomfortable going along with Donald Trump. They feel that … voting for a Democrat is unthinkable. So, they’re sitting here trying to figure it out,” Kinzinger said. “This is an important time for Republicans to step up and say this is OK. You don’t have to give up your Republican image to vote for a Democrat. You’re just standing up for democracy.”
Asked by Fox News if the Biden campaign’s efforts have been enough to attract Republicans, Kinzinger said, “I think the campaign has certainly made it very clear, especially over the last couple of months, that they want to win over those Haley voters, those swing Republican voters.”
Trump’s top black surrogates argue in favor of former president
Kinzinger becomes the most high-profile former GOP elected official to formally endorse Biden, whose campaign earlier this month named Kinzinger’s former chief of staff Austin Weatherford to serve as national Republican outreach director.
The Trump campaign took aim at Kinzinger, one of only two Republicans who served on the Democrat-dominated House committee that investigated the attack on the Capitol.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung asked on social media, “Who is Adam Kinzinger? Isn’t he a cry baby?”
Republican Reps. Wesley Hunt of Texas (left) and Byron Donalds of Florida (third from left) and former HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson (second from right) participate in a Trump campaign Black business roundtable discussion in Atlanta on Wednesday. (Fox News/Matthew Ready)
While the Biden campaign was holding its news conference at the Georgia State House, Trump’s campaign was attempting to turn out black voters at an event just a few miles away.
The Trump campaign hosted a Black American Business Leaders Barbershop Roundtable discussion in downtown Atlanta.
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The discussion was led by two of Trump’s most prominent Black allies and surrogates: GOP Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida and Wesley Hunt of Texas, and Dr. Ben Carson, the 2016 Republican presidential nominee who later served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Trump administration.
Both Carson and Donald are considered to be on Trump’s list of potential allies.
Republican Representatives Byron Donalds (left) of Florida and Wesley Hunt of Texas address a black voter outreach event called “Congress, Cognac and Cigars” in Philadelphia on June 4. (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)
Later on Wednesday, less than 24 hours before the first presidential debate in Atlanta, Hunt and Donalds were scheduled to hold their second edition of “Congress, Cognac and Cigars,” a GOP outreach effort for black male voters that they are conducting in some key swing states.
Polling this year indicates that while Biden retains support by a wide margin among Black voters, Trump has gained ground among key voters who have been a core part of the Democratic Party’s base for generations.
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