SEATTLE — Former U.S. Rep. Rod Chandler, a Republican who represented the Eastside’s 8th Congressional District for a decade, has endorsed Kamala Harris for president as part of a national group of Republicans opposed to Donald Trump.
Chandler was among dozens of former GOP members of Congress and other ex-party leaders who announced endorsements over the weekend as part of “Republicans for Harris.”
Chris Vance, a former state GOP chair and former state senator and King County Council member, also is part of the national effort, which was announced by the Harris campaign on Sunday.
“I was a Washington state Republican for 37 years, serving in the State House, the Metropolitan King County Council, and as Chairman of the state party. Now I am proud to support Kamala Harris because she is better than Trump on national security, better than Trump on growing the economy, and unlike Trump, Vice President Harris will stand with the Constitution and the rule of law,” Vance said in a statement.
The announced “Republicans for Harris” endorsers also include former Govs. Bill Weld of Massachusetts and Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey, former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, and 16 former Republican members of Congress, including Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Joe Walsh of Illinois and Susan Molinari of New York, according to The Associated Press.
Despite those defections, the vast majority of Republican politicians, including some who’d previously called Trump unfit for office, have lined up to support him in 2024.
Both Vance and Chandler have long opposed a Trump return to the White House.
Chandler, who served in Congress from 1983 to 1993, was among 12 former GOP members of the U.S. House who submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that Trump should be disqualified from holding office again because he engaged in an insurrection by stoking the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“Trump showed the world that he believes he is unmoored from the obligations of the Constitution and our most storied tradition: the peaceful transfer of power,” Chandler and the other former representatives said in the brief.
The Supreme Court in March rejected efforts to block Trump from state ballots.
Vance, who chaired the state GOP from 2001 to 2006, publicly quit the Republican Party in 2017 over its continued loyalty to Trump.
