GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has reportedly named two former Democrats to his presidential transition staff: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.
The New York Instances was the primary to report the information earlier than the Trump marketing campaign issued an announcement Tuesday.
“As President Trump’s broad coalition of supporters and endorsers expands across partisan lines, we are proud that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard have been added to the Trump/Vance Transition team,” senior Trump marketing campaign advisor Brian Hughes stated. “We look forward to having their powerful voices on the team as we work to restore America’s greatness.”
Kennedy and Gabbard, each Democratic presidential candidates at one level, each endorsed Trump in latest days. They’re the one former Democrats with nationwide identify recognition to take action.
It’s unclear what they’ll do on the transition staff for Trump’s potential second time period, however the staff total is tasked with serving to choose folks for roles within the administration and creating a broad coverage platform.
Kennedy, who was initially working as a Democrat within the 2024 presidential election earlier than switching to an impartial candidacy, suspended his marketing campaign Friday and urged his supporters in battleground states to vote for Trump. Although Trump was brandishing him as a “Radical Left Lunatic” just some months in the past, the environmental activist turned anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist has taken a right-wing shift as his marketing campaign progressed, specifically on abortion rights.
Gabbard, as soon as a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, has a particularly blended document in terms of coverage. She was an anti-LGBTQ+ activist within the early 2000s however apologized and shifted course as soon as she was elected to Congress. However lately, she’s launched anti-transgender laws and endorsed Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” invoice. She supported progressive drug reform and a shift to renewable power sources however later, in newer years, spoke in favor of Trump’s border wall and leaned into some anti-abortion rhetoric.
Simply 5 years in the past, she referred to as Trump “corrupt” and “unfit” for workplace.
Democrats, too, have regarded throughout the aisle to lure in voters. Final week’s Democratic Nationwide Conference featured eight Republicans explaining why they’re voting for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, together with some former members of the Trump administration.
“Here I am behind a podium advocating for a Democrat, and that’s because I love my country more than my party,” former White Home press secretary Stephanie Grisham stated.
“The Republican Party is no longer conservative,” former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois stated. “It has switched its allegiance from the principles that gave it purpose to a man whose only purpose is himself.”
