Biden campaign ramps up efforts to flip moderate Republicans in 2024

President Biden’s Campaign Effort to Achieve Both supporters of former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley and moderate Republicans in general are rising.

The Biden-Harris campaign on Thursday announced the hiring of Austin Weatherford — the former chief of staff to former Rep. Adam Kinzinger — as “national director of Republican engagement,” a Biden campaign official told CBS News.

Weatherford will lead outreach efforts to “independents and moderate Republicans who know the danger Donald Trump poses to the country if he is reelected to a second term,” according to the official.

Moderate Republicans, specifically those who supported Haley Republican Party presidential racehave been a target of Biden’s campaign since she dropped out of the primary race in March.

Even after leaving the race, Haley still won a significant share of the primary vote in swing states. In some of these states, they surpass the 2020 margin between Biden and former President Donald Trump. In Pennsylvania, for example, Haley received 16% of the vote in the Republican primary in April, or just over 158,000 votes. Biden won the Commonwealth by more than 80,000 votes in 2020.

Last week, Biden campaign aides held a Zoom call with two dozen former GOP members of Congress, according to a campaign source familiar with the meeting. News of the Zoom call and Weatherford’s hiring was first reported by CNN.

The Haley Voter Working Group — an anti-Trump group of Haley supporters and volunteers who support Biden or are undecided — is also hiring more staff in swing states. The group has been in contact with the Biden campaign in recent months and hosted a virtual meeting with the Biden campaign in the evening after Haley announced on May 22 she would be voting for Trump.

The group’s new director will be Craig Snyder, chief of staff to former senator Arlen Specter and a 30-year veteran of national political consulting for the Republican Party. Emily Mathews, another Kinzinger advisor, was also hired to join the group’s leadership.

Kinzinger himself told CBS News in December 2023, he would support Biden in November if Trump were the nominee.

Robert Schwartz, president of the Haley Voter Working Group, noted that his coalition supports Biden’s decision recent executive order on immigration, the president’s authorization giving Ukraine limited approval use US weapons to attack inside Russia, and your speech Thursday in Normandy on the 80th anniversary of D-Day, which reaffirmed US support for its allies.

“These actions show that Biden is governing for all Americans rather than catering to the left wing of the Democratic Party,” Schwartz said. “Even though Biden did all this, you know, the news about Trump is all about his personal vendettas.”

Schwartz added that while there are significant differences in political views between Biden and Haley supporters, such as their level of support for Israel, his group will work to court Haley’s more than one million voters in swing states.

The Biden campaign’s efforts to reach these voters began in early March, when the president said “there is a place” for Haley supporters in his campaign after she dropped out of the primary race. Since then, the campaign has also run ads featuring digital montages of Trump criticizing Haley. Going forward, the Biden campaign plans to appeal to these voters’ concerns about possible threats to democracy and the Constitution during a second Trump term.

As the election approaches, the Biden campaign also plans to create an outreach program specifically aimed at Republicans. But the campaign says discussions with local voters will be led by Republicans who already support Biden, in an attempt to establish more authentic conversations.

Former Republican Rep. Denver Riggleman of Virginia cast some doubt on whether the Biden campaign’s efforts to woo disenchanted Republican voters will ultimately work. “They need strong hitters,” he said.

“Who else is there? What real person who wants to win Republican office would step forward?” he added, referring to the potential blowback Republican candidates and lawmakers could get from Trump and his supporters if they publicly supported Biden.

Biden’s campaign says that, although they are in contact with possible Republican supporters, they are keeping their powder dry and will only announce them closer to November. They are looking at a timeline similar to 2020, when notable Republican Party endorsements were revealed after the Democratic National Convention and closer to the election in order to maximize impact when more voters tune in.

Despite saying in late May that she would vote for Trump, Haley implored the presumptive Republican nominee to “earn the votes of those in our party and others who do not support him.”

Trump was highly critical of Haley during the Republican primary between the two and said in January that his campaign “will not accept” her supporters. However, after a rally in the Bronx last month, Trump softened his stancesaying that “I’m sure she’ll be on our team in some capacity.”

In a Tuesday interview with NewsMax, however, Trump expressed disappointment in Haley “because she stayed [in the primary race] too long.”

“Remember, I hit her in her own state [primary]. I hit her pretty hard everywhere,” he said, adding that “some people would be very disappointed” if he chose her as his running mate, but that “some people would be fine” with it.