Former Pennsylvania GOP Governor Tom Ridge and the first Secretary of Homeland Security under George W. Bush has endorsed Joe Biden.
The endorsement doesn’t come as a total surprise. Ridge has been a frequent Trump critic since he announced his candidacy in 2015.
According to Fox News:
“Vice President Biden and I both know that supporting his candidacy now certainly won’t dissuade me from speaking out later when I disagree with him,” Ridge wrote in The Philadephia Inquirer. “But we surely will do so with civility and respect, not with childish name-calling and [T]witter tirades.”
Ridge added: “Joe Biden has the experience and empathy necessary to help us navigate not only the pandemic, but also other issues that have fractured our nation, including social injustice, income inequality and immigration reform.”
“I actually consider it a point of personal pride that I’m recognized for being among the first Republicans to reject Donald Trump,” Ridge wrote. “With just about one month until Election Day, President Trump continues to claim the only way he can possibly be defeated is a rigged election. Can you imagine the hubris?”
“Whether the Republican Party can restore itself or not, I don’t know. Whether it wants to or not, I don’t know that either,” Ridge wrote. “Pennsylvania voters, along with voters in Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida, are likely to ultimately determine the next president. So much is at stake.”
It’s time to put country over party. It’s time to dismiss Donald Trump.
Why I’m voting for @JoeBiden on November 3rd. https://t.co/rM9MnwjZhr
— Gov. Tom Ridge (@GovRidge) September 27, 2020
Pennsylvania is a critical state in the 2020 election and appears to be a toss-up currently. However, Ridge was an anti-Trumper in 2016 and Trump still carried the state against Hillary Clinton.
Ridge now joins, former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, former Ohio Governor John Kasich, former New Jersey Governor Christie Todd Whitman, and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld as the former GOP RINO Governors who have endorsed Joe Biden.
