The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is working to highlight a number of high-profile defections from the Republican Party.
A short video, titled “Republicans Leaving Party In Droves,” makes a pitch for Republican voters to rethink their loyalties.
It includes a clip of former Secretary of State Colin Powell saying that he can no longer call himself a Republican, and one of former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele saying that “when you’re losing Republican members and you’re left with QAnon and Proud Boys, you’ve got to reassess whether or not you’re even close to being a viable party.”
Steele was an outspoken critic of former President Trump and in October endorsed President Biden.
The ad also notes that rank-and-file voters are leaving the GOP. More than 140,000 voters across 25 states left the Republican Party in January, an analysis by The Hill found.
The video ends with a clip of Biden’s inaugural address, urging unity.
“Unity is the path forward,” Biden says. “And we must meet this moment as the United States of America.”
The ad is set to run on digital platforms, according to a DNC official.
“Republicans across the country are fleeing their party. Furthermore, sizable numbers of Republicans support President Biden’s COVID relief package. The contrast is clear: while Republicans are deeply divided, President Biden and Vice President Harris are working tirelessly to unite our nation and build back better — beginning with a plan to vaccinate Americans and get our economy back on track,” a DNC spokesman, Daniel Wessel, told The Hill in an emailed statement.
“If former Republicans are looking for a party with a broad and diverse membership — a party that is working to unify the country and build back better — they need look no further than the Democratic Party,” the spokesman added.