Well-known Democrats and Republicans whose support for 2024 crossed party lines

In an era of hyperpolarization, party loyalty is not always the primary concern of a handful of people.

Both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have the opportunity to expand their bases by supporting former opponents.

Here are some of the most prominent figures who have abandoned their previous party politics to help the party across the aisle win in November.

Donald Trump’s supporters

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The third-party candidate once branded a spoilsport suspended his presidential campaign on Friday and is now throwing his weight behind Trump, while also trying to develop a definition of “MAGA” that could appeal to Democrats.

A lifelong Democrat, Kennedy became an independent for his campaign. He is the first known former Democrat to give his blessing to Trump’s campaign.

Tulsi Gabbard

Former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who has since left the party after running for president in 2020, is expected to voice her support for Trump at his campaign rally in Detroit, according to CNN.

Gabbard left the Democratic Party in October 2022. Saying She was no longer associated with a party led by an “elitist cabal of warmongers, driven by cowardly vigilantism, who divide us by making every issue racist, who stoke anti-white racism, who actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, who are hostile to people of faith and spirituality, who demonize the police, and who protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans.”

Since then, she has taken a more conservative approach to border security, transgender issues and foreign policy and is helping Trump prepare for debates.

Supporters of Kamala Harris

Stephanie Grisham, former White House press secretary under Trump

Grisham was press secretary for the Trump administration until she resigned a few hours after the riots at the Capitol on January 6. At the Democratic Party convention, she took the stage and attacked her former boss, saying he had “no compassion, no morals and no loyalty to the truth.”

“Kamala Harris is telling the truth,” Grisham said. “She respects the American people and she has my vote.”

Former Lieutenant Governor of Georgia, Geoff Duncan

Duncan served as Georgia’s lieutenant governor from 2019 to 2023 and had a front-row seat in the Georgia election interference case against Trump. He also spoke at the DNC.

“My path to this podium began years ago when I realized that Donald Trump was willing to lie, cheat and steal to overturn the 2020 election,” Duncan said.

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Other GOP voices

Dozens of Republican lawmakers, governors and former Cabinet members have strongly condemned Trump and defected to the Democratic Party to support Harris, some of them speaking at the Democratic National Convention.