Charlie Dent Becomes the Latest High-Profile Republican to Endorse Biden

The former Representative joins a long string of high-profile Republicans who have endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in his bid for the White House.

The steady stream of Republicans abandoning President Trump continued today, as former Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania announced on CNN that he would be voting for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden this November.

The former congressman represented parts of eastern Pennsylvania, including Allentown, just south of Biden’s hometown of Scranton. Dent is a lifelong Republican and—by his own admission—has supported candidates who have campaigned against Biden in the past. He did not vote for Donald Trump in 2016.

In making his announcement, Dent released a statement condemning President Trump and suggested that the president has undone decades of U.S. leadership on the national stage. “He has spent the better part of his presidency undermining the international order—methodically and carefully built, defended and repurposed on a bipartisan basis after World War II and again after the Cold War,” Dent wrote.

Dent’s focus on international relations fell in line with much of the messaging from Tuesday night’s Democratic National Convention, which highlighted Biden’s experience working with leaders of other nations around the world.

“Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined a Republican President praising autocrats and advancing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy interests in Europe and the Middle East,” Dent wrote. “In one of the most baffling and bizarre displays of public diplomacy, President Trump professed his love of murderous North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.”

Dent also traced a line from Trump’s relations with international dictators and autocrats to his ongoing promotion of white nationalism at home in the U.S. “And now the Republican Party of Lincoln is led by a man who is determined to honor and defend symbols of the traitorous Confederacy,” Dent wrote.

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It isn’t only his criticism of President Trump that has caused Dent to support his opponent. “Biden is fundamentally a decent and honorable man who respects the American tradition, supports the rule of law, embraces America’s friends and allies, and will restore some semblance of normalcy to the functioning of government,” wrote Dent.

That refrain has been echoed by other high-profile Republicans who have announced their support of Joe Biden in recent days, including former Sec. of State Colin Powell, former Ohio Governor John Kasich, and former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel.