A George W. Bush-era chairman of the Republican National Committee says he will vote for Joe Biden over President Trump.
Marc Racicot, governor of Montana from 1993-2001, who helmed the national Republican party during the first term of Bush’s presidency, said Trump’s character is deficient and lacking, and he should be denied a second term.
“I regret that I will cause consternation, perhaps in some corners, but even as a Republican, I will not be supporting Donald Trump for president, and I will not be voting for him,” Racicot said. “That means I will be voting for Joe Biden for president.”
Racicot said he would have “disagreements” with Biden, the former two-term vice president and 36-year Delaware senator.
“But the content of a man’s character or a woman’s character to serve in that capacity is more important than any other issue that I have to consider as a matter of conscience,” Racicot said, per the Independent Record of Helena.
Racicot is the second former Republican National Committee chairman to spurn Trump. Michael Steele, who headed the RNC from 2009 to 2011, during the first two years of Barack Obama’s presidency, has since become a virulent critic of Trump, and is backing Biden.
Racicot’s comments come almost 20 years after he played a key role in the Florida recount saga that effectively made Bush president, emerging from the Sunshine State with a razor-thin lead over Democratic rival Al Gore.
Racicot then led the Republican National Committee from December 2001 to July 2003. He later headed an insurance lobbying group.
More broadly, he’s among scores of former Republican elected officials who are backing Biden over Trump. The bulk were in office during the 1980s and 90s and have little influence among Trump-backing GOP voters.
Bush-friendly figures, generally, have not fared well in the Trump presidency. In the 2016 Republican primary cycle, the business mogul beat former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for the nomination. And Trump has been critical of the Bush family at large.
How much of an effect Racicot’s declaration of support for Biden has in Montana is an open question. The state features a highly competitive Senate race between Republican incumbent Steve Daines and outgoing Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock. Races for governor and the state’s lone House district are also proving more competitive than usual in this otherwise heavily Republican state.
