Democrats desperately trying to sway anti-Trumper Republicans to Kamala… will they succeed?

The Democratic National Convention featured the usual political spectacle, with prominent Democrats delivering impressive speeches and attendees dressed in patriotic red, white and blue.

But there was also one notable element for such a big blue party: the Republicans.

In between speeches from the country’s most beloved and powerful Democrats, a four-day parade of current and former Republicans all pledged their support for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

“If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, you are not a Democrat, you are a patriot,” former Republican Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan declared as he took the stage at the DNC to loud cheers.

Olivia Troye, a former national security official in Trump’s White House, said in her speech: “You don’t vote Democrat, you vote democracy.”

Former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger declared that Democrats “love this country as much as we do,” as the crowd chanted “USA!”

And former top adviser to Melania Trump and White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham alleged that Trump refers to his supporters as “basement dwellers” behind closed doors.

Republican strategist Kevin Madden said the speakers themselves won’t have much of an impact because few voters know who they are. But he does believe “they’re a symbol for many Republicans who describe themselves as ‘conscientious objectors’ to Trump’s vision for their party.”

“There are enough of them in the critical states to make a difference,” Madden said.

Harris’ campaign has been doing everything it can to appeal to Republican and independent voters willing to reject the former Republican president, and it has also enlisted Republicans to help them do so.

It was on full display at the United Center in Chicago, a stark contrast to the Republican National Convention a month earlier, where not a single Democrat took the stage in Milwaukee.

After her speech, Grisham said she was terrified to perform at the DNC, but that everyone welcomed her. She said that even if it only changed the minds of a few Republicans and Independents, her appearance would have been worth it.

“The winning strategy for Kamala Harris is to revitalize and remobilize the anti-Trump coalition that defeated Donald Trump in 2020, and that coalition includes the center-right swing voters who historically identify as Republicans,” said John Conway of Republicans Voters against Trump, arguing that the inclusion gave others “permission” to vote blue.

Conway’s group conducted focus groups and outreach activities with these voters and noted that the convention was made up not only of “elite” Republicans, but also of rank-and-file GOP voters.

During the four-day event, videos of former Trump voters were shown on big screens as millions of Americans watched the convention at home.

Former Trump voter Kyle Sweetser, a Republican from Alabama, also took the stage and told thousands of Democrats that it was the first time in his life he was voting for a Democrat.

“I feel more at home here than I do in the current Republican Party,” said John Giles, Republican mayor of Mesa, Arizona, who also recently spoke at a Harris rally in his pivotal state.

Giles referenced the late Republican Senator and GOP presidential candidate John McCain in his speech when he stated that “Country First.”

The effort to persuade Republicans began while Biden was still running for re-election.

The Biden-Harris campaign welcomed Nikki Haley’s disaffected voters into the primaries after Trump attacked her candidacy earlier this year.

Haley has since announced that she will vote for Trump, but that hasn’t stopped Democrats from seeking support from her constituents.

In June, the campaign announced the appointment of a full-time National Republican Engagement Director who will focus on further expanding outreach to Iindependents and moderate Republicans.

Austin Weatherford of Virginia was Kinzinger’s former chief of staff and had 25 years of experience in GOP politics.

He said the convention’s programming was just another attempt to “reach out to anti-Trump Republicans” and that they will continue to remind Republican and independent voters that “Donald Trump does not represent their values.”

According to a campaign official, the campaign has also been in regular contact with GOP leaders and organizations that want to challenge Trump’s vision for the country. Behind the scenes, the campaign will also continue to work to secure support.

More than a seven-figure sum has been spent on ads targeting undecided voters. Earlier this month, Republicans for Harris, a grassroots program to reach millions of GOP voters, was launched.

Critics have questioned whether convention organizers should have devoted so much time to Republicans during the event. Some speakers admitted they were still Republicans and disagreed with Harris on policy.

Questions have also been raised about whether Republican voters who split for Biden in 2020 would also vote for the vice president, a Black woman who ran to the left of Biden in the 2020 primaries and is seen by Republicans as more liberal.

However, Conway’s research shows that Republican voters who voted for Biden in 2020 were more concerned about the president than the vice president in November.

“It was clear that Joe Biden had problems with these voters, but they were problems specific to Joe Biden,” he said.

Conway said they really did see “the bottom drop” after the president’s disastrous June debate, but with Harris at the top of the ticket they saw a “strong recovery,” with Harris at the top of the ticket, including voters who voted for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020.