As a staff member for the January 6th committee, former congressman Denver Riggleman says he’s seen Donald Trump’s e-mails and fears for the future of our democracy if Trump is elected again.
"I don’t want to vote for a felon. I don’t want to vote for somebody who worships dictators. I don’t want to vote for an insurrectionist, and I don’t want to vote for anybody who thinks January 6th was okay."
Joining him at the afternoon reception was former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, a national co-chair of the Harris campaign. He told the crowd he is hopeful, but a win in November is not assured.
"We now have a huge amount of energy and excitement, however when you actually look at the fact that we’re talking about electoral votes that you have to win in certain states, we think that we’re the underdog. We think the race is going to be very close. We don’t want anybody to take it for granted.”
Also on hand, Republican Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Congressman for 21 years before retiring to the Eastern Shore. He drove five hours to shake Riggleman’s hand and to celebrate a chance to vote for someone he believes in.
“This now is an election between young versus old, smart versus foolish. It’s an election between someone who wants to motivate us to work together and not see our neighbor as our enemy.”
Landrieu said Republicans could hand Harris a victory, and the outspoken Denver Riggleman says they should.
“It’s okay to vote for something that’s not crazy. It’s okay for sanity to be the baseline. It’s okay to vote for facts. It’s okay to vote for decent people.”
Signs at the event urged Republicans to support country over party this time around.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
