Speaking at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan joined the Republicans for Harris group assembled to provide a place for Republicans disenchanted with former President Donald Trump to land.
The group is advocating for disillusioned Republicans to instead support Vice President Kamala Harris in this year’s Presidential Election.
“Let me be clear to my Republican friends at home watching: If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, you’re not a Democrat, you’re a patriot.”
The remarks were meant to provide cover to Republicans frustrated with Trump but weary of supporting a Democrat.
Duncan’s Wednesday remarks were similar to former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican who has endorsed Harris and who has been vocally opposed to the former President. Kinzinger spoke Thursday night in a prime slot on the final day of the convention, before Harris officially accepted her party’s nomination. He invoked the same “patriot” language and reminded Republican voters that Democrats are just as patriotic as Republicans, perhaps more in the age of Trump.
“Harris is a serious human being with a sense of right and wrong,” Duncan said. “She has far more of a chance of being a steady hand on the wheel than the other guy vying for the job.”
He went on to say that Trump is “driven by chaos and craziness, not civility or conservatism.”
Duncan endorsed Harris in this year’s Presidential Election prior to speaking at the DNC. He chose not to seek re-election to his post as Lieutenant Governor after angering those within his party for being openly critical of Trump.
After the 2020 election, when Trump infamously was trying to get Georgia officials to “find” the votes needed to win the Peach State, which he lost to now-President Joe Biden, Duncan was key to overcoming pressure from Trump and his allies trying force a Special Session to alter the results.
While Duncan has not shed his affiliation to the Republican Party, Democrats at the convention, reportedly including Georgia U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, gave the former Lieutenant Governor a standing ovation.
