By Doina Chiacu and Nandita Bose
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. president Joe Biden is making a pitch for his re-election to Republicans who do not support their party’s standard-bearer, Donald Trump, in the November election, a Biden campaign official said Thursday.
The Democratic presidential campaign has hired a national Republican engagement director: Austin Weatherford, who served as chief of staff to former Republican congressman Adam Kinzingeran outspoken critic of Trump, the official said.
Weatherford has been hired “to lead outreach to independents and moderate Republicans who know what a danger Donald Trump is to the country if he is re-elected for a second term,” the official said.
According to Reuters/Ipsos polling, Biden and Trump are in a tighter rematch for the White House than in 2020. Biden’s support among voters without a four-year degree is down 10 percentage points from the same period in 2020, it showed the analysis.
Most national polls show a tie.
Trump has often dismissed members of his party who do not support him as “RINOs,” for Republicans in Name Only, for party members he views as disloyal. The Trump campaign did not return a request for comment.
Both Biden and Trump campaigns sought to woo supporters of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who withdrew from the Republican primary in March. Haley did not support Trump at the time, but has since said she would vote for him.
The Biden campaign has been meeting with Haley voters and is placing a “seven-figure ad buy” targeting such voters, the Biden campaign official said. There is little precedent for large numbers of Republicans to support a Democrat in a presidential election.
Trump, meanwhile, is busy fundraising in liberal San Francisco, hoping to attract venture capital money from those who have opposed Biden’s liberal policies.
The Republican Party has coalesced around Trump this election season, following his repeated lies about winning the 2020 election against Biden, and the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol led by his followers.
Kinzinger and fellow U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney were the only two Republicans to join the House of Representatives select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. Both were later censured by the party.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Nandita Bose; Editing by Heather Timmons)
