'I’m not going to quit': Swing state GOP official who endorsed Harris now faces expulsion

20 August 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign has not only united the Democratic Party, but has also attracted support from some Republicans disillusioned with former President Donald Trump. Now, one of those Republicans has incurred the wrath of his own party in expressing his support for the Democratic nominee.

According to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania NPR and PBS affiliate WHYY, the Montgomery County Republican Party recently held a private disciplinary meeting with one of its top officials — Upper Merion GOP leader Matthew McCaffery — after he publicly endorsed Harris over Trump. After his announcement, McCaffery's home was targeted by a swatting incident (in which an anonymous caller to a police department fakes a scenario that gets a SWAT team sent to an address). Now, he may be booted out of his position entirely.

"If I wasn’t already doubled down with my convictions now — I’m like tripled and quadrupled down," McCaffrey, who is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, told WHYY. "I’m not going to quit."

Even though McCaffery is a municipal-level Republican official, his endorsement of Harris in the pivotal must-win battleground state of Pennsylvania is significant, given that the Keystone State's electoral votes have gone to the eventual winner of the presidency in every election cycle dating back to 2008. Pennsylvania is expected to be hard-fought, and the winner may not be known for several days after the election due to a statute requiring that mail-in ballots not be counted until after polls close.

In July, McCaffery submitted an op-ed to the Philadelphia Inquirer entitled "I voted for Trump in 2016. His disrespect for veterans will make me vote Democrat." He told NBC 10 Philadelphia that he was committed to opposing Trump in 2024, saying: "I didn't commit 34 felonies; I haven't been found liable for sexual misconduct; I haven't drug our country through one of the worst days in our history on Jan. 6."

In an interview with WHYY, Montgomery County Republican Party chairman Christian Nascimiento said he wasn't ruling out disciplinary action against McCaffery for his op-ed. He argued that the county party's bylaws were clear in that party officers are expected to support Republican candidates and not back Democrats.

"If you want to be a Republican committee person, one of the few things that you have to do is support Republicans up and down the ticket," he said. "It’s pretty straightforward, and so disciplinary action happens when one member brings charges against another member for a violation of the bylaws."

"I kind of don’t care what people do personally or how they vote," he added. "I want them to vote for all the Republicans obviously, but there’s between who you want to vote for and then being a committee person and actively supporting someone that’s not on the Republican ticket."

McCaffery is currently involved with the group Republicans Against Trump, which consists of multiple prominent GOP figures who have publicly come out against the former president. That group includes people like former Trump White House communications official Stephanie Grisham, former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan and former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Illinois).

Grisham, Duncan and Kinzinger will all be speaking tonight at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on the second night of the convention. They'll be sharing the stage with nationally renowned progressive leaders like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and former President Barack Obama.

Click here to read WHYY's report in full.

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