Several former Republican elected officials, as well as former Trump administration staffers, are set to speak at the Democratic National Convention as Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign seeks to court GOP and moderate voters turned off by the former president, according to an official with the Democratic campaign. 

What You Need To Know

  • Several former Republican elected officials as well as staffers who served in the Trump administration are set to speak at the Democratic National Convention, according to a campaign official 
  • Those who will speak in support of Harris include two former Trump White House officials, Stephanie Grisham, his one-time press secretary and Olivia Troye, a national security staffer; Former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who served on the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, will also speak as will former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan and the mayor of Mesa, Arizona, John Giles
  • The campaign is also looking to put a spotlight on the voices of “everyday” Americans who are crossing the aisle to back the vice president, with the convention set to feature remarks from a Republican voter from Alabama Kyle Sweetser and what the Harris team is calling a former “MAGA activist” Rich Logis 
  • The Harris camp is putting resources toward reaching Republican and Independent voters who, as her team put it, view the former president as too extreme

“This week, the millions of Republicans and independents who have rejected Donald Trump will see that there is a place for them in the Harris-Walz coalition,” the Harris campaign’s Republican Engagement Director Austin Weatherford said in a statement. “We will be putting patriotic Republicans front and center in our convention programming to explain, in their own words, why they are putting country first and supporting Vice President Harris.” 

Those who will speak in support of Harris include two former Trump White House officials, Stephanie Grisham, his one-time press secretary, and Olivia Troye, a national security staffer who also worked with Vice President Mike Pence. Former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who served on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, will also speak, as will former Georgia Lt. Gov Geoff Duncan, and the Republican mayor of Mesa, Arizona, John Giles. 

The campaign is also looking to put a spotlight on the voices of “everyday” Americans who are crossing the aisle to back the vice president, with the convention set to feature remarks from Kyle Sweetser, a Republican voter from Alabama, and Rich Logis, a former Trump supporter who condemned the ex-president in a video played during the DNC's first night.

Grisham, who first served as former first lady Melania Trump’s chief of staff and press secretary before joining Trump's White House press team, resigned after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. In a statement, Grisham noted that she “never thought” she would be speaking at a Democratic convention. 

“But, after seeing firsthand who Donald Trump really is, and the threat he poses to our country, I feel very strongly about speaking out,” her statement continued. “While I don’t agree with Vice President Harris on everything, I am proud to be supporting her because I know she will defend our freedoms and represent our nation with honesty and integrity. 

“I encourage my fellow Republicans to step up and join me in supporting the Vice President to ensure Donald Trump never returns to the White House,” she said. 

Both Duncan and Giles similarly cited concerns over what another Trump presidency would mean for the future of democracy as central reasons they are supporting the vice president. 

The Harris camp is putting resources toward reaching Republican and Independent voters who, as her team put it, view the former president as too extreme. The campaign hired Weatherford, who served as Kinzinger’s chief of staff for a decade, to head up outreach to such voters when President Joe Biden was still in the race. 

Since Harris’ ascension to the top of the Democratic ticket, her team launched a program, Republicans for Harris, designed to court these voters. The campaign says it has also spent seven-figures in communicating with Republicans, which includes two ads last spring designed to target GOP voters who do not support Trump. 

Democrats have pointed to the tens of thousands of voters who cast ballots for former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley over Trump in Republican primaries this year as evidence of Americans in the party reluctant to back the former president. For her part, Haley, who became critical of her one-time boss during her campaign, has since endorsed Trump.