With Election Day six months away, a small group of prominent Republicans crossed party lines to support President Biden in his 2024 rematch against former President Trump.
The endorsements come as most Republicans begin to rally behind Trump.
Here are notable Republicans who say they will support Biden over Trump in November, as well as some critics of the former president who haven’t gone that far.
Republicans supporting Biden
Geoff Duncan
Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) made headlines this week when he announced plans to vote for Biden while criticizing others in his party who “align themselves” with the former president.
“It is disappointing to see a growing number of Republicans align themselves with former President Donald Trump,” Duncan wrote in an op-ed published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitutionarguing that the party’s allegiance to Trump leaves it “no choice but to pull the lever for Biden.”
Duncan pointed to Trump’s legal troubles, promising to vote for “a decent person who I disagree with on politics rather than a criminal defendant with no moral compass.”
Michael Steele
“I understand that with some Republicans who say, ‘Oh, I just can’t vote for a Democrat.’ But it’s not like that: you’re voting for your country. You’re not voting for a Democrat in this case,” former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele said in March on MSNBC, where he is a political analyst.
“I have the idea that it is difficult for some Republicans to cross the street. But, honey, you gotta do it,” Steele said. “The country needs you more than your party, believe me.”
Steele also supported Biden in 2020 and worked with the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project.
Adam Kinzinger
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who served on the House committee on Jan. 6, said he would vote for Biden over Trump “in a heartbeat” this November.
“While I don’t agree with all of Joe Biden’s policies, he doesn’t intend to achieve democracy, so I intend to vote for him,” Kinzinger said this week,as reported by The Guardian.
Kinzinger initially favored former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, another outspoken Trump critic, but said there was “no question” he would cross party lines to pick Biden in a head-to-head matchup with the former president.
Sarah Matheus
Sarah Matthews, a former Trump staffer, told The Hill earlier this year that she would not vote for her former boss in November in a face-off with Biden and would instead support the incumbent.
“Although I have never voted for a Democrat a day in my life, I would support Biden over Trump if he became the Republican nominee,” Matthews said. “I will not support someone who refused to participate in a peaceful transfer of power, attempted to overturn a free and fair election, and incited a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol.”
She resigned from her post after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
“Competence and experience” would be “thrown out the window” in a second Trump term, Matthews said in an interview with CNN’s Jim Acosta earlier this month.
Republicans who have not ruled out Biden
Cassidy Hutchinson
Former Trump White House adviser Cassidy Hutchinson last week became the latest prominent Republican Party figure to leave the door open to voting for Biden in November.
“I have never voted for a Democrat in my life, but I would absolutely consider voting for Joe Biden next November because he will not try to destroy our nation,” Hutchinson told an audience inColorado Mesa Universityby footage shared on the social platformRepublicans against Trump. “He will not try to destroy our Constitution. And he has the statesmanship we need in an elected official.”
Hutchinson, the former assistant to chief of staff Mark Meadows, was the first White House aide to testify publicly before the Jan. 6 panel.
Mitt Romney
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who won the GOP nomination for the White House in 2012, said earlier this year that he absolutely would not vote for Trump over Biden in November.
“No. No, no, absolutely not,” Romney told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source” when asked about the possibility.
“Having such a characterless president would have a huge impact on the character of America,” he added. “And for me, that’s the main consideration.”
However, it is unclear whether the retiring senator will throw his support behind the Democratic incumbent.
Liz Cheney
Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who promisedDoing whatever it takes to keep Trump out of office has fueled speculation about whether she will formally support Biden this year.
“There are some conservatives who are trying to claim that somehow Biden poses a greater risk than Trump,” Cheney said in January.
“My opinion is that I disagree with many of Joe Biden’s policies. We can survive bad policies. We cannot survive by burning the Constitution.”
The former Wyoming congresswoman has yet to give a formal endorsement.
Mark Esper
Trump’s former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he was “not yet” voting for Biden, but promised not to vote for his former boss.
“I will definitely not vote [former President Trump]but I’m not there yet,” Esper said in March when comedian Bill Maher asked him on “Real Time with Bill Maher” if he would vote for the incumbent.
Esper became a vocal critic of Trump after his former boss announced he fired the Defense Secretary in November 2020. He warned that Trump is a “threat to democracy.”
Republicans Who Dropped Both
Mike Pence
“It should come as no surprise that I will not support Donald Trump this year,”said former Vice President Mike Pence on Fox News in March.
Pence ran against his former running mate in this cycle’s Republican primaries — but despite breaking with his former boss, he has firmly said he will not side with Biden.
“I would never vote for Joe Biden. I’m a Republican,” Pence said.
Chris Christie
Christie, a longtime Trump ally who ran against him for the GOP nomination this cycle, warned of a “revenge trip” and the dangers to democracy posed by another Trump term.
“One thing I know for sure now is that I will not vote for Trump under any circumstances. If he is the only person on the ballot, I will not vote for Trump, because I know him too well and he is completely unfit to be president of the United States in every way you can imagine.” Christie told The Washington Post last month.
Despite Trump’s ardent rejection, Christie said he didn’t think he could vote for Biden.
“President Biden, in my opinion, is past his sell-by date,” Christie said. “Right now, I can’t say to myself: I think Joe Biden is capable of being president today, much less at age 86.”
Christie also called it “very stupid” for Biden to not reach out and ask the former New Jersey governor to support his 2024 bid after he left the Republican race.
Paul Ryan
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said last week that he would not vote for Trump but would instead write for another candidate.
The presidency is “a job that requires the kind of character that he just doesn’t have,” Ryan told Yahoo Finance at the Milken Global Institute Conference of Trump.
“That being said, I really disagree [President Biden] in politics,” Ryan added. “I wrote it in Republican last time, I’m going to write it in Republican this time.”
Ryan was Romney’s running mate in the 2012 presidential election. He then led the House Republican majority during Trump’s first two years in the Oval Office, before leaving Congress in 2019 — and has since joined the chorus of outspoken critics of Trump in the Republican Party.
Asa Hutchinson
Former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, who also filed a bid for the Republican nomination this year, has said he will not support Trump or Biden.
“I hope there are those in the trenches who will push back against this Republican Party takeover and join the fight to reclaim the future,” Hutchinson said in an op-ed for USA Today in March of this year.
But “Biden’s weak border policies, his weak economic record and his slow-growth energy policy do not justify reelection,” he added.
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