The Guardian
Vote against Trump, former supporters urge in $50m video campaign
Lauren Aratani – March 13, 2024
An anti-Donald Trump group of Republicans is launching its second campaign against the former president, spending $50m and using testimonials from former supporters in an attempt to convince voters to turn away from Trump.
This week, Republican Voters Against Trump released 100 videos recorded by anti-Trump Republicans explaining why they no longer support him.
Sarah Longwell, president of Republican Accountability political action committee, which is behind the campaign, explained the logic behind the effort in a press release on Tuesday.
Related: My feeling about this presidential election? Nauseous optimism | Robert Reich
“Traditional Republican voters who have long supported the party but have concerns about Donald Trump proved decisive in the 2020 election. By targeting these voters and reaching them with credible messengers, the campaign will establish a permission structure for them to withhold their support from Trump again,” she said.
“This will help re-create the anti-Trump coalition that made the margin of victory in 2020 and holds the key to 2024.
The group ran the same unconventional ad campaign against Trump in 2020, when it ultimately received over a thousand homemade testimonials on its website.
“One of the reasons they are so compelling is because you can tell how authentic they are, how deeply they feel this – a lot of them want to get something off their chest,” Longwell told the Guardian in 2020.
Longwell told the New York Times in a piece published on Tuesday that she had raised $20m so far for 2024 and hoped to raise the rest of the $30m before the election in November. The group has received large donations from anti-Trump billionaires, according to Forbes, including the Democratic donor and co-founder of LinkedIn Reid Hoffman and John Pritzker, a member of the family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain.
In many of the videos, former supporters say that the January 6 Capitol insurrection turned them against Trump.
“January 6 was the end of Donald Trump for me. I could not believe what was happening before my eyes – watching what was an insurrection at the Capitol, which was, in my mind, unquestionably led by Donald Trump,” Ethan, a former Trump supporter from Wisconsin, said in one video.
Chuck, a supporter from Nebraska, similarly said that he “completely 100% hold[s] him accountable for the insurrection”.
“I will vote Democrat. I can’t believe I’m saying it. But I will not ever support or vote for Donald Trump ever. I’ll vote for Joe Biden,” Chuck said.
Many other supporters similarly express disbelief at Trump’s popularity with the Republican party, often saying that Biden is the first Democrat they have ever supported.
“Now, I understand that a lot of people say, ‘Oh, well look at maybe Joe Biden in his past,’ and you hear that ‘Oh, everyone’s corrupt and has got a torrid past,’” said Paul, a voter in North Carolina, in his testimonial. “Maybe Joe Biden does, something he lied about many years ago about his record, but he’s not even in the same league as Trump as far as all the different lies.”
Longwell said in the release this week that she believed “former Republicans and Republican-leaning voters hold the key to 2024”.
“Whatever their complaints about Joe Biden – Donald Trump is too dangerous and too unhinged to ever be president again,” she said. “Who better to make this case than the voters who used to support him?”