Why a prominent Arizona Republican thinks fellow conservatives should vote for Kamala Harris

PHOENIX – Prominent Arizona Republican Jeff Flake, who is backing Vice President Kamala Harris for president, wants fellow conservatives to know there are plenty of good reasons to choose the Democrat over former President Donald Trump.

“Don’t be ashamed to say you’re going to vote for a Democrat. We have a grand tradition in the party of Republicans voting for Democrats when need be,” Flake told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Monday, one day before the 2024 general election.

For example, Flake recalled how conservative Arizona icon Barry Goldwater supported Democrat Karen English in her successful 1992 congressional bid because he didn’t think her Republican opponent, Doug Wead, would represent the party well.

Jeff Flake makes conservative case for Kamala Harris

Flake said that while he doesn’t agree with Harris on everything, he believes her policies are actually more conservative than Trump’s on some of the most important issues facing the nation.

“Conservatives, if we believe in anything, we believe in the rule of law. That’s the kind of primary tenet of our platform,” Flake said. “And when you have a former president who loses an election and then tries to overturn that election, that’s the antithesis of belief in the rule of law. So, that’s kind of a threshold issue.”

Flake said his support for the Democratic candidate goes beyond Trump’s behavior after the 2020 election.

“I also would maintain, if you look at foreign policy right now, if you look at trade policy and some other things, Kamala Harris has probably more conservative policy than Donald Trump does. I’m not arguing across the board that she does, but on the big, big, important issues, then frankly, she’s more conservative than he is,” he said.

When did Jeff Flake’s issues with Donald Trump start?

It was no big surprise when Flake, who served in the U.S. House from 2001 to 2013 and the Senate from 2013 to 2019, endorsed Harris in September and began campaigning for her.

He voted for a third-party candidate rather than Trump in 2016 and endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. He then served as Biden’s ambassador to Turkey for over two years before leaving the post earlier this year.

I’ll be supporting Kamala Harris for President and Tim Walz for Vice President.

I’ve served with Kamala in the U.S Senate. I’ve also served with Tim in the House of Representatives.

I know them. I know first of hand of their fine character and love of country.

I would… pic.twitter.com/xn0OM4rcqk

— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) September 29, 2024

Flake said his issues with Trump originated before he entered politics, when he pushed the “birther theory” that Barack Obama wasn’t born in the U.S. and therefore shouldn’t have been eligible to run for president.

“It’s one thing to believe that — that’s bad enough. But it’s worse if you don’t believe it but you use it because you know some people will. That’s what I felt that he did at that time,” Flake said.

Flake also noted that Republicans have lost their electoral iron grip on Arizona since Trump became the party’s leader.

“I’m troubled, like all Republicans in Arizona, that we’re not winning,” he said. “And the more that we continue as a party to follow Donald Trump’s lead in questioning the validity of elections or challenging free and fair elections, and this kind of smash-mouth … hateful rhetoric, it turns Arizonans off.”

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