'We're not going back': Some Never-Trump Republicans embrace Harris' 'top cop' persona

WASHINGTON — The surge of excitement around Kamala Harris has locked in powerful interest groups and unions, cemented titans of Wall Street and Hollywood, and captured "coconut-pilled" progressives and Joe Biden campaign aides alike.

But Harris’ rapid ascent to the top of the Democratic ticket is also animating another important coalition of voters: former Republicans more desperate than ever to turn the page on Donald Trump.

Biden, with a decadeslong record in office, had offered them a moderate who promised to court compromise in Washington. Now, those anti-Trump Republicans are measuring up Harris, trying to determine whether she, too, can appeal to the center with her own policy proposals and with her pick for a running mate.

Already, Harris has notched Republican support from former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan.

Former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican, endorsed Biden in 2020. After launching a third party in 2022, Whitman said she is now all in for Harris.

“It’s a totally different race, and the idea of a prosecutor against a convicted felon is a very appealing one from an ad point of view,” Whitman said.

Others, too, are finding plenty to embrace about California’s former top cop.

“I loved her line: ‘I’m a prosecutor. I know how to deal with people like Donald Trump,’” said former Rep. Christopher Shays, a Republican critic of Trump from Connecticut. “She didn’t say Donald Trump’s a hateful, despicable man — ugly. She didn’t have to.”

Shays said that after meeting Biden, he decided he would not vote for him despite believing he had done a good job. He worried Trump might be able to increase his support after the failed assassination attempt but now thinks the effort to moderate him has