‘I was the director of the Michigan Republican Party.  I will vote for Kamala Harris.’

I was the executive director of the Michigan Republican Party, back during a time when the GOP embraced values like fiscal discipline and a strong foreign policy.  

I voted for Nikki Haley in the Feb. 27 primary in part to move the Republican Party past Donald Trump. She received 296,200 votes — 27 percent of the primary votes — at a time when it was clear that Trump was likely going to be the party’s nominee. Many of those 296,200 voters will not vote for Trump on Tuesday; I am one of them.    

Donald Trump and JD Vance don’t advocate for the values of the Republican Party I once knew.  

Rather than promoting trade with the rest of the world, they embrace protectionism and across-the-board tariffs that will make working families pay more for everyday goods. Harris is focused on targeted, strategic tariffs.  

Trump has no fiscal discipline. He added $8 trillion to the debt during his first term. Every time he gives a campaign speech he promises a new handout to a different group. I don’t agree with all of Harris’ economic policies, but she is more fiscally disciplined than Trump.

Trump and Vance thrive on xenophobia and blaming immigrants for all of our problems, rather than coming up with sensible, conservative solutions to serious issues like rising housing costs. Though I may disagree with some of her policy solutions, at least Harris is proposing ideas to fix our problems.  

Rather than promote a strong Reaganesque foreign policy, Trump and Vance admire dictators and want to abandon Ukraine and our NATO allies. 

Trump promised an auto manufacturing boom and failed to deliver. Factories closed under Trump; auto factories are being built under Harris. 

Trump and his allies have done grave damage to the Republican Party — both in Michigan and nationally.  If we ever want our Republican Party back, it has to start with Donald Trump losing on Nov. 5.  That’s why I’m voting for Kamala Harris.

(Gary Reed was executive director of the Michigan Republican Party from 1992 to 1995.)  

Have something to say about a local issue or  an item that appeared in our pages?

Now you have two ways to sound off:

Write a letter to the editor.

• E-mail: letters@ lansingcitypulse.com
• Snail mail: City Pulse, 1905 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing, MI 48912
• At lansingcitypulse.com

 Write a guest column.

Contact Berl Schwartz for more information: publisher@lansingcitypulse.com or (517) 999-5061. (Please include your name, address and telephone number so we can reach you. Keep letters to 250 words or fewer. City Pulse reserves the right to edit letters and columns.)