A growing portion of the Republican Party is turning against Donald Trump and supporting Democrat Joe Biden for president.
The latest group is said to include “hundreds” of former officials of the George W. Bush administration.
They’ve have formed a political action committee called 43 Alumni for Biden, which launched Wednesday with a website and a Facebook page. (The younger Bush was the 43rd president.)
The Super PAC “plans to release ‘testimonial videos’ praising Biden from high-profile Republicans and will hold get-out-the-vote efforts in the most competitive states,” says the Reuters news agency, which first reported the group’s formation.
Many 43 Alumni members disagree on certain policy matters with Biden and his party, of course — but they say there are bigger issues at stake than partisan differences of opinion.
“This November, we are choosing country over party,” said Kristopher Purcell, who was a communications official in the Bush White House. “We believe that a Biden administration will adhere to the rule of law … and restore dignity and integrity to the White House.”
Asked by Reuters for comment, the Biden campaign declined.
Karen Kirksey, director of the 43 Alumni organizing committee, who worked on the Bush 2000 election campaign and in the Labor and Agriculture Departments, said the endorsement of Biden is a recognition of “the urgent need to restore the soul of this nation,” reports CNN.
“For four years, we have watched with grave concern as the party we loved has morphed into a cult of personality that little resembles the Party of Lincoln and Reagan,” Kirksey said in a statement.
By law, Super PACs may not work or even communicate with campaigns they support — but, notes Reuters, they “can raise unlimited amounts of money and run ads or hold events to support the candidate.”
Other Republican groups are taking a similar approach — notably the Lincoln Project, which was co-founded last year by conservatives including George Conway, the husband of Trump White House adviser Kellyanne Conway.
