Jeff Flake says he is supporting Harris because he is confident she will accept the election results

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — What would Jeff Flake, who endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president, say to himself a decade ago while serving as a conservative representative and senator?

A reporter asked Flake the question Wednesday afternoon at a Get Out the Vote event outside the Indian Bend Wash Visitor Center, an early voting center, where about 80 Republicans for Harris supporters were in attendance.

“We have many Republicans who believe in limited government, economic freedom, individual responsibility and strong American leadership abroad,” Flake said as he looked at the supporters standing behind him as they all cheered in approval.

This is why Jeff Flake is supporting Kamala Harris

Flake said Harris stands for all of these things, and believes bipartisanship is the way forward on issues surrounding the border. “That’s me twelve years ago. I felt the same,” he added.

“Principled conservatism” involves assessing a candidate, not blindly following party lines, Flake said. “I support Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, not despite being a conservative Republican, but because I am a conservative Republican.”

“Conservative Republicans believe in the rule of law first and foremost,” and that means respecting the election results, said Flake, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “I know she would never use the powers of the presidency to overturn an election she did not win.”

The one-term senator from Arizona said that during his six terms as a representative, he served on the Senate Judiciary Committee along with Harris and in the House of Representatives along with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Most recently, Flake served as the U.S. ambassador to Turkey for two years until leaving the post in September. He represented the US in the conflicts between Russia, Ukraine and Israel and Hamas during his time as ambassador for the Biden administration.

Mesa Mayor John Giles: ‘We want our party back’

Mayor John Giles of Mesa, a Latter-day Saint and Republican endorsed Harris said in August, “If I were talking to Jeff Flake 12 years ago, I would say, ‘Jeff, Kamala Harris is a better Republican than Donald Trump.’ I am dead serious.”

Giles has campaigned for Harris throughout Arizona, as well spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He serves on the Latter-day Saint Advisory Committee for Harris-Walz and on the Republicans for Harris-Walz leadership group, as Deseret News previously reported.

The Harris-Walz operation will continue its grassroots efforts to pursue the “politically homeless,” or those who feel “left out” by the Republican Party during the final few days of the 2024 election, the mayor said.

“We want our party back. We want to throw a party that we can be proud of. We want our children to be able to go to political meetings. We want to be able to point to political figures as people our children should aspire to be more like,” Giles said, “and all of that has been taken away from us by the Republican Party, Donald Trump’s MAGA Republican Party. .”

Flake said he doesn’t know whether to be optimistic about the current state of the Republican Party. Trump loyalists aren’t going anywhere, but more and more people are leaving the Republican party.

“We chose to stay and object and try to win the party back,” he said. “The independents are now the fastest growing party,” adding that people like Trump and Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake are steering the ship in the wrong direction.

Former Scottsdale Mayor Sam Campana and Tim Riester, a businessman and vice chairman of the Phoenix Rising, a football team, also made statements.

Why are Republicans standing up for Harris?

Roberta L. Voss, a real estate agent who served in the Arizona House of Representatives from 1997 to 2003, told the Deseret News she agreed with Flake, saying that supporting a principled Democrat when the Republican option does not support the beliefs of represents the Republican Party is the best choice. obvious choice – “and that’s why I got out.” Voss held her ballot and a stack of Arizona Republican flyers for Harris. The flyers – titled “Why would a conservative person of faith vote for Harris” – outlined Harris’ position while touting the support she is receiving from conservatives.

On abortion, it says, “Harris trusts women to make the right choice,” and that “like Liz and Dick Cheney, you may disagree with Harris on this point but agree with her on others.”

Rick Biers, the owner of an appraisal and valuation company, who stood next to Voss with his own stack of flyers in his hand, said Trump lacks the necessary civility, adding that he was disgusted after hearing the comments about Puerto Ricans taken during a Trump rally. at Madison Square Garden, NY

Voss and Biers, both Scottsdale residents, are facing opposition from their conservative friends. “We do, but we don’t care,” Biers said. “We put up a lot of signs, Republicans for Harris, and the Trump supporters are taking them down … despite the fact that, you know, it’s against the law to do that.”

But he added, “I’m finding a lot more support than pushing back.”