GOP's Fred Upton backs Kamala Harris' presidential campaign

DETROIT — West Michigan Republican and former U.S. Rep. Fred Upton is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris' 2024 bid for the White House, saying his party's nominee, former President Donald Trump, is divisive, unhinged and has "not changed his colors."

"Watching Trump day after day, he's ignored the advice of many senior, respected Republicans to stay on the issues," Upton told The Detroit News.

"Instead, he's still talking about the election being stolen, trashing women left and right. He's just totally unhinged. We don't need this chaos. We need to move forward, and that's why I'm where I am."

Upton of St. Joseph, who served 36 years in the U.S. House, is the highest profile Republican in Michigan to publicly back the Democratic presidential nominee. He previously chaired the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Upton has often split his ticket, but this year was his first time voting for a Democrat for president, which he already did by absentee ballot, he said.

He spoke Wednesday with Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, with whom Upton served with in the House for 12 years. Upton said he is convinced a Harris administration would seek the counsel of Republicans and work across the aisle to tackle urgent issues from immigration to inflation to Ukraine.

"They want to get things done, and the only way to get that to happen is to work on a bipartisan basis. I'm convinced that Harris has more ability to do that than Trump," Upton said, adding that Harris already supports the Senate's bipartisan package on immigration that Trump tanked earlier this year.

"I’m convinced that those of us who are willing to stand up now will be at the table as we try to chart a path to resolve these issues. They are too important to ignore. ... At some point, the country has to come ahead of party, and that’s what this is all about."

Upton began his political career working in the Reagan administration, was elected to represent southwest Michigan in Congress in 1986 and retired in 2022. He was one of 10 House Republicans who bucked his party in voting to impeach former President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attempted insurrection.

Upton said he anticipates some pushback from Republicans in Michigan about his decision, but said "it's the right thing to do." He is open to campaigning for Harris but has no immediate plans to do so, he said.

"I don't have any qualms," he said. "I've been thinking about it for a while. Trump's not changed his colors."

Victoria LaCivita, communications director for the Trump campaign in Michigan, dismissed Upton's endorsement Thursday.

“Michigan families are worried about paying their bills, putting food on the table, and saving for their kids' college tuition," she said in a statement. "Any 'Republican' campaigning for another four years of unfettered illegal immigration and rising prices under Kamala Harris is neither Republican nor worth listening to."

Vance Patrick, chair of the Oakland County GOP, tweeted Thursday that news article headlines about the Upton endorsement "should read 'former Republican,' as anyone backing Kamala Harris is NOT a Republican. Plain, simple, full stop."

Upton joins a growing number of former Republican lawmakers and former Trump officials who are crossing party lines as they warn about the dangers and risks of a second Trump presidency. Trump's former chief of staff, John Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, also has come out publicly this week against his old boss returning to the White House.

With Michigan and other battleground states narrowly split in the presidential race, the Harris campaign has been working in recent weeks to boost its outreach to Republican-leaning and undecided voters in an attempt to win them over.

Harris campaigned in Michigan this week with former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican who has joined Harris on the campaign trail in swing states in recent weeks.

At a Royal Oak theater, the two were surrounded by banners Monday that read “Country Over Party” and “New Way Forward” that have been featured at other events with Cheney and other GOP supporters of Harris, a former U.S. senator from California. Cheney, who formerly led the House GOP Conference, served on the House panel that investigated the Jan. 6 riot.

Trump in response insulted Cheney as "dumb as a rock" and a "war hawk ... who, like her father, the man that pushed Bush to ridiculously go to War in the Middle East, also wants to go to War with every Muslim Country known to mankind," Trump declared in a Truth Social post Monday.

Trump has also attacked Upton over the years, celebrating in April 2022 when the long-time congressman announced his decision to retire after redistricting drew him into the same district as another GOP colleague: "UPTON QUITS!" Trump wrote in a statement at the time. "4 down and 6 to go. Others losing badly, who's next?"

Upton, a centrist, last year had trumpeted the No Labels independent presidential ticket effort that maintained that Americans didn't want a rematch of Trump and President Joe Biden in 2024 and aimed to field a third-party alternative.

The No Labels campaign fizzled out in April after it failed to recruit candidates with a "credible" path to winning the White House.

Upton was not part of the rollout by the Harris-Walz campaign earlier this month of Michigan Republicans for Harris-Walz, a group that included former U.S. Rep. Dave Trott of Birmingham, an attorney who represented Michigan in the U.S. House from 2015-19.

Others in the group when it launched were Jim Murray, former deputy chief of staff Michigan House Speaker Rick Johnson; and Bill Nowling, a consultant who worked to elect GOP candidates for 30 years. They stressed that Trump only acts to further his own interests and represents a threat to U.S. democracy who doesn’t respect the peaceful transfer of power.

Susan Ford Bales, the daughter of former Republican President Gerald Ford, also endorsed Harris this week, and former state Rep. Marty Howrylak, R-Troy, has also backed her campaign.

Harris has said she'd appoint a Republican to her cabinet should she win in the White House on Nov. 5.

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