Hundreds of Former Bush, McCain Aides Endorse Biden for President

Hundreds of former aides to former President George W. Bush and the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) announced Thursday that they are endorsing Democrat Joe Biden for president.

The endorsements for the Democrat nominee come as President Donald Trump prepares to officially accept his party’s nomination on the last night of the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Thursday, NBC News reported.

A political action committee, 43 Alumni for Biden, posted a list of nearly 300 Bush administration members or campaign aides that openly supported Biden.

The names include former Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman as well as former ambassadors and White House staffers.

More than 100 of McCain’s congressional and campaign staffers also endorsed Biden and dissed Trump in a letter.

“Given the incumbent president’s lack of competent leadership, his efforts to aggravate rather than bridge divisions among Americans, and his failure to uphold American values, we believe the election of former Vice President Biden is clearly in the national interest,” they said in a letter.

Some former McCain aides who signed the letter include Mark Salter, the senator’s one-time chief-of-staff; Mike Murphy, a GOP political consultant who worked on strategy for McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign; Christian Ferry, who was McCain’s deputy campaign manager for his 2008 bid for the presidency; and Joe Donoghue, who served as McCain’s legislative director.

Trump and McCain frequently butted heads, especially over efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Several other Republicans also jumped ship to the Democrat side to endorse Biden last week at the Democratic National Convention, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former New York Rep. Susan Molinari, former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

All of these Republicans just so happened to speak at the 1996 Republican National Convention nominating Bob Dole in his failed bid against former President Bill Clinton.