More Michigan Republicans have publicly identified their support for Vice President Kamala Harris in her race to win the White House over former President Donald Trump, and urged other Republicans to join them “in putting country over party.”
Ahead of the visit to Portage set for Friday afternoon by GOP vice presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), former state Reps. Dave Maturen (R-Vicksburg) and Dave Pagel (R-Berrien Springs) gathered in Kalamazoo and urged Michigan Republicans to reject the authoritarianism of a second Trump term and help turn out voters for Harris. Trump also is slated to hold a rally in Warren on Friday.
“I’ve worked with Democrats and Republicans at the county and state level. Regardless of someone’s political party, there’s a few qualities that any true leader needs to have, such as character, morality, honesty and integrity. That’s what this country deserves in a president, and those are traits that Donald Trump knows nothing about,” said Maturen. “Trump spent four years undermining trust in our democracy, and then when he lost the 2020 election, he egged on a violent mob to storm the Capitol and overturn the will of the voters. Now, he’s spreading lies about the integrity of this election, laying the groundwork for another ‘big lie’ and the potential for violence once again.”
Former US Rep. Dave Trott headlines Michigan Republicans for Harris group
Pagel, meanwhile, said Trump was “simply unfit to lead this country, unfit psychologically, emotionally, intellectually and most of all morally.”
“Political opponents are not the enemy within, and we should never use that hateful term,” added Pagel, referencing comments Trump made during an appearance on Fox News in which he referred to Democrats as “the enemy within.”
“I always say, we have two enemies,” Trump said. “We have the outside enemy, and then we have the enemy from within, and the enemy from within, in my opinion, is more dangerous than China, Russia and all these countries.”
“Donald Trump is simply not an acceptable choice,” said Pagel. “We need to turn the page, end the divisiveness, the name-calling, the petty, small-minded and even hate-filled politics that Donald Trump thrives on. America is better than this.”
Maturen and Pagel are among dozens of Republican leaders both in Michigan and nationally who are members of Republicans for Harris, a coalition of GOP members working to reach and mobilize Republican voters in support of Harris and opposed to allowing Trump, who has been impeached twice and awaits sentencing on 34 felony convictions, from a return to power.
The group is co-chaired by Republican former U.S. Rep. Dave Trott (R-Commerce Twp.), and includes fellow former U.S. Reps. Fred Upton and Joe Schwarz; former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party Gary Reed, and Bill Nowling and Jimmy Greene, lifelong Republicans who served on Nikki Haley’s Michigan leadership team for her 2024 campaign.
Republicans for Harris emphasizes the consistent level of opposition to a second Trump presidency, noting the more than 356,000 Republican primary voters who cast ballots against Trump in Michigan’s GOP presidential primary in February, more than double the margin of votes President Joe Biden needed to win Michigan in 2020.
Another group, Haley Voters for Harris, has also been organizing GOP voters in Michigan. Gary Reed, a former executive director of the Michigan GOP, this week wrote a column endorsing Harris. And Rusty Hills, a former MIGOP chair and senior adviser to Republican former Attorney General Bill Schuette, this week wrote a column in the Detroit Free Press urging Republicans not to vote for Trump.
Also at Friday’s press conference was reproductive rights advocate Amanda Stratton, who said Trump was directly responsible for women across the country now living under abortion bans that denied them the care they need.
“Their doctors are worried about going to jail, and some women have even lost their lives. And if he gets back to the White House, he’ll ban abortion nationwide. It won’t matter that we voted overwhelmingly to protect reproductive rights here in Michigan — he will make sure that all of that work goes to waste, and in our state, we’ll have to live with that same fear,” said Stratton, who added that Harris has led the Biden administration’s response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, including being the first sitting vice president to visit a reproductive health care clinic.
“This election isn’t just about politics. It’s about decency, it’s about choice, and it’s about personal freedom. If you believe in those things, then I hope you’ll join me in supporting Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States,” said Stratton.
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