Legacy media outlets have trumpeted the news that “more than 200″ people who used to work for former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and for former Republican presidential nominees John McCain and Mitt Romney, have endorsed Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in an open letter.
But who, exactly, are the 200?
Left-leaning media may claim this list represents a tidal wave of Republicans defecting to Harris, but this letter is far less impressive than meets the eye. As it turns out, many of the signatories were interns or apolitical staff, and many of them went on to work for then-President Barack Obama and current President Joe Biden.
The Interns
The list features eight interns: Chad Adler, a finance intern for Romney 2012; Katie Daryl, a communications department intern for McCain’s Senate office; Anne Dixon, a political intern for the 2008 McCain presidential campaign; Daniel Edwards, an intern in McCain’s Senate office; Danny Mazza, another McCain Senate office intern; Brooks Nelson, an intern from Bush’s USA Freedom Corps; Meghan K. Reilly, a McCain Senate office intern, and Anne Wisniewski, a political intern for McCain’s 2008 campaign.
The offices of Romney and George W. Bush did not respond to The Daily Signal’s questions about whether the letter artificially inflated the number of former staff to give a false impression.
Apolitical Staff
Many of the former Bush 41, Bush 43, McCain, and Romney staffers who signed the letter held apolitical positions that do not necessarily reflect alignment with the Republicans for whom they worked. Many of them stayed on under Democrats because their jobs did not involve partisan affiliation.
Letter-signer Daniel Connor held the apolitical position of pilot for presidential helicopter Marine One under George W. Bush. He remained in the role into the Barack Obama administration.
Lauren Dorff, who worked as outreach coordinator for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Center for Faith-Based and Community Partnerships in the Bush administration, stayed in the agency under Obama until August 2009, according to LinkedIn.
Eric Eberhard worked on the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs under McCain, but he was later appointed to the Udall Foundation (a federal agency, despite the name) by both Republican and Democratic presidents (Clinton, Bush, and Obama).
David Blaszkowsky worked for the Bush administration’s Securities and Exchange Commission, but he stayed with the SEC under the Obama administration for three years before moving to the Obama-era Treasury Department.
Are These Republicans?
Some signatories either went on to work for Democrats in more political positions or endorsed left-leaning stances on various issues. That raises the question of whether their support for Harris (and opposition to Trump) actually means anything.
Obama appointed Bush administration alumnus Felice Gorordo to serve as a White House fellow in 2011-12, where he worked on the rollout of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects from deportation illegal aliens brought to America as minors. The program also provides DACA recipients—dubbed “Dreamers”—with work permits, and according to Biden, more than 800,000 people have qualified for DACA since its inception.
Brooks Nelson, a former Bush intern, demonstrated that he doesn’t support the 43rd president’s conservative pro-life stance. He commented on a post announcing a woman starting a new job at abortion giant Planned Parenthood Federation of America with “This makes me so happy!! Congratulations! You’re going to make a huge impact!”
Jeffrey Bobeck, who served in Bush’s Department of Energy, now leads a group called Innovators for Democracy that endorsed Biden in 2020 and has now endorsed Harris.
Matthew Filter worked as a McCain legislative assistant from 2009 to 2011, but he jumped ship in 2012, working for two Democrats. First, he worked as a summer policy intern for then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York in 2012, then as a policy extern for then-Mayor Cory Booker in Newark, New Jersey, in 2012-2013. Booker is now a Democratic senator from New Jersey. He also served under Democratic mayors of Durham, North Carolina.
