Former Republican Lt. Governor Says He Will Vote for Biden

President Joe Biden speaks at the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum in Syracuse, N.Y., on April 25, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

Former Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan announced that he plans to vote for President Biden in the upcoming election rather than back his party’s candidate, former President Donald Trump.

“It’s disappointing to watch an increasing number of Republicans fall in line behind former president Donald Trump,” with many GOP members vowing to back the “Republican ticket,” Mr. Duncan wrote in a May 6 opinion piece in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “This mentality is dead wrong ... Yes, serious questions linger about President Biden’s ability to serve until the age of 86. His progressive policies aren’t to conservatives’ liking. But the GOP will never rebuild until we move on from the Trump era, leaving conservative (but not angry) Republicans like me no choice but to pull the lever for Biden.”

“Unlike Trump, I’ve belonged to the GOP my entire life. This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass,” he said. The opinion piece was titled “Why I’m voting for Biden and other Republicans should, too.”

Mr. Duncan called President Trump a man who has disqualified himself for the presidency through “his conduct and his character.” Mr. Duncan highlighted President Trump’s ongoing “hush-money” trial and the “unfounded conspiracy theories that led to the horrific events of Jan. 6, 2021.”

He admitted that President Trump is leading President Biden in the 2024 race, citing a CNN poll showing that the GOP candidate had the backing of 49 percent of registered voters, a six-point lead over the Democratic candidate’s 43 percent support.

The poll also found that 55 percent of Americans perceived the Trump administration as a success, far higher than that of the Biden administration’s 39 percent.

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Commenting on the data, Mr. Duncan said that “voters’ memories are short,” expressing worries that “each new day increases the possibility of a second Trump presidency.”

In battleground states, President Trump is leading President Biden in six out of seven states, he said citing a Wall Street Journal poll. “If these results hold, he (Trump) will have more than enough electoral votes for a second term.”

Last year, Mr. Duncan testified before a Fulton County grand jury regarding President Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.

After his testimony, Mr. Duncan said that the 2020 election was “fair and legal.”

A December 2023 Heartland/Rasmussen poll found that one in five mail-in voters admitted to committing some kind of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

“17 percent of mail-in voters admit that in 2020 they voted in a state where they are ‘no longer a permanent resident,’” the poll said. “17 percent of mail-in voters said they signed a ballot for a friend or family member ‘with or without his or her permission.’” In addition, “8 percent of likely voters say they were offered ‘pay’ or a ‘reward’ for voting in 2020.”

Following his testimony, Mr. Duncan said, “As a Republican that cares about the future of this country, this is our moment to hit the reset button, to launch into a GOP 2.0. One that focuses on policies that matter.”

Before Mr. Duncan’s testimony, President Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that Mr. Duncan “shouldn’t” go ahead with his decision.

“I barely know him but he was, right from the beginning of this Witch Hunt, a nasty disaster for those looking into the Election Fraud that took place in Georgia. He refused having a Special Session to find out what went on, became very unpopular with Republicans (I refused to endorse him!), and fought the TRUTH all the way. A loser, he went to FNCNN!” President Trump stated.

Siphoning Republican Votes

There are attempts to galvanize Republican voters to vote for President Biden rather than President Trump. In March, a Washington-based anti-Trump political group launched a $50 million election campaign to stop the former president from winning a second term.

“The Republican Voters Against Trump campaign will target moderate Republican and Republican-leaning voters in key swing states with video testimonials of people sharing in their own words what caused them to break with Trump,” the Republican Accountability PAC said.

The group was founded by Republican strategist Sarah Longwell, a long-time critic of President Trump.

“Former Republicans and Republican-leaning voters hold the key to 2024, and reaching them with credible, relatable messengers is essential to re-creating the anti-Trump coalition that made the difference in 2020 ... It establishes a permission structure that says that—whatever their complaints about Joe Biden—Donald Trump is too dangerous and too unhinged to ever be president again.”

Another potential source of Republican voters for President Biden is the support base of Nikki Haley. Ms. Haley dropped out of the 2024 race in March. However, she did so without announcing support for President Trump.

That month, the Biden campaign launched an ad seeking to attract Haley supporters. The ad said, “If you voted for Nikki Haley, Donald Trump doesn’t want your vote,” asking viewers to “Save America” by supporting the Biden-Harris bid in the 2024 presidential elections.

A March 5 Emerson College poll found that 63 percent of Ms. Haley’s voters were likely to vote for President Biden compared to just 27 percent for President Trump. In the 2020 election, 52 percent of Ms. Haley’s supporters had voted for President Biden, the poll revealed.

The Republican primary in Pennsylvania was held late last month. Despite having pulled out from the presidential race, Ms. Haley received around 16 percent support, journalist Alex Ross said in a social media post.

President Trump won the race with more than 80 percent of the votes.