On Friday, David Holt, the Republican Mayor of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, announced that he was backing Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
Republicans from swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin have come out in support of the Democratic candidate. Holt is in Oklahoma, far from a competitive state for the left. Still, he decided to back Harris because of his serious concerns about the Republican candidate's character.
Holt wrote in the Philadelphia Citizen that his first vote was placed for George W. Bush, "During this time period of my adult life that I am describing — across four presidential elections — I viewed policy as the differentiator between candidates. Issues like a strong national defense, limited and competent government, fiscal responsibility, personal freedom, and a free-market capitalist economy all weighed heavily on my vote."
The GOP mayor continued, "It is only in 2016, 2020 and 2024 that I have been forced to recognize that there are criteria inherently more important, criteria that I took for granted. These criteria could be thought of as the three Cs: CHARACTER, COMPETENCE and COMMITMENT to our form of government."
Holt closed his piece, "Perhaps you are like me and you look forward to the day when we can again look beyond the three Cs and consider policy as our presidential differentiator. We should all work towards that day. But that day is not November 5, 2024. On that day, I will hold fast to what is good. On that day, I will vote for virtue."
Read the full opinion here