Why the DNC Featured So Many Republicans

Democrats weren’t the only ones speaking at their convention this week. Republicans were featured prominently on each of the four nights, often during key speaking slots to present a bold case for Kamala Harris as essential to preserving democracy against what former President Donald Trump might do with a second term. 

Their participation underscores a significant effort aimed at swaying GOP voters disillusioned with Trump’s leadership. It culminated Thursday night with former Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, a Republican who served on the Jan. 6 committee and said Trump’s “deceit and dishonor” led to the siege on the Capitol. 

“I want to let my fellow Republicans in on the secret—the Democrats are as patriotic as us,” Kinzinger said to an arena full of Democrats. Standing up for the Constitution and democracy is the soul of being a conservative, he said, but “the Republican Party is no longer conservative” and instead has switched its alliance to Trump “whose only purpose is himself.” That’s why Kinzinger urged Republicans to vote for “our bedrock values—vote for Kamala Harris.”

Since jumping into the race in late July, Harris has pulled even with Trump in battleground state polls and taken the lead in national poll averages, buoyed by gains from independents shifting their support to Harris. Gallup poll results released Thursday found her favorability ratings among independent voters jumped to 41% from 28% in June. Her favorability among Republicans has remained steady at 5%.

The Harris campaign hopes to build on that momentum with independents and even make inroads with Republicans disenchanted with Trump. 

The strategy continues a long tradition of political conventions featuring apostates from the other party. In 2004, Zell Miller, a lifelong Democrat who was a Senator from Georgia at the time, famously delivered a blistering attack on the Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry at the Republican National Convention. Trump’s convention in July brought on stage some voters who had lost faith in President Joe Biden and said they were planning to vote for Trump.

But the focus on Republicans at this year’s DNC was striking in the sheer number of Republicans who landed prominent moments on stage, and the extent to which they insisted their support of Harris and conservative principles are not at odds.

“If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, you’re not a Democrat, you’re a patriot,” said Geoff Duncan, a former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia, on Wednesday, prompting the Democratic delegates on the convention floor to begin chanting “USA!”

Duncan said at the start of his speech that he was addressing the millions of Republicans and independents watching at home who are “sick and tired of making excuses” for former President Donald Trump. 

Another life-long Republican, Olivia Troye, described to convention attendees how working in the Trump White House as a counterterrorism advisor to Vice President Mike Pence was “terrifying” when she saw first-hand how Trump undermined intelligence officials and military leaders and used his office to try to overturn the 2020 election results. “What keeps me up at night is what’ll happen if he gets back there,” Troye said.

Trump has repeatedly denigrated Republicans who voted for Nikki Haley, his rival in the GOP primary, and dismissed Republican moderates as RINOS, Republicans In Name Only. The Harris campaign thinks that creates an opening for them to reach conservative voters who now feel alienated. “While Donald Trump continues to attack moderates and independents, the Harris-Walz campaign has made clear that there is a place in our coalition for voters who reject the extremism of Donald Trump and want to protect our democracy,” says a Harris campaign official.

The convention hall also heard this week from John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa, Arizona and Stephanie Grisham, a former Trump White House press secretary and former close aide to Melania Trump. Giles said the Republican Party had become unrecognizable under Trump. “I have a confession to make. I’m a lifelong Republican,” he admitted in his primetime speaking slot. “I feel a little out of place tonight, but I feel more at home here than in today’s Republican Party.”

Grisham’s speech highlighted her own transformation from a staunch Trump supporter to an advocate for Harris: “He used to tell me, 'It doesn’t matter what you say Stephanie, say it enough, and people will believe you,'” Grisham said, reflecting on her time in Trump’s inner circle. “But now, I’m standing here advocating for a Democrat because I love my country more than my party. Kamala Harris tells the truth. She respects the American people, and she has my vote.”

Even Oprah Winfrey, who dazzled attendees with a surprise appearance late Wednesday evening, made clear that she’s a registered Independent voter as she urged support for Harris. “I'm calling on all you independents and all you undecideds. I'm telling you the truth, that values and character matter most of all in leadership and in life,” Oprah said. “Common sense tells you that Kamala Harris and Tim Waltz can give us decency and respect.”

The pitch for Republican workers dovetails with an effort by Democrats to reverse the inroads Trump previously made with white working class voters and union members. United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain tells TIME he has heard union members tell him they voted for Trump in 2020 but now plan to vote for Harris. Workers-rights issues are playing a role, he says, pointing to the work Biden and Harris have done to build infrastructure and create jobs through the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS Act. “Donald Trump talks about creating jobs in America—he didn't do a damn thing when he was president. He didn’t do shit for the working class,” Fain says. 

There are union members who are staunch Republicans and “that’s fine,” Fain says, adding that they need to hear where the candidates are on working-class issues and vote accordingly. 

“We’re not asking you to change who you are,” says Fain.