Kamala Harris, the Vice President, seems to be on a mission to collect endorsements from some figures who were once seen as faithful right-wing icons. Surprisingly, these endorsements include likes of Liz Cheney, once a heavyweight conservative, and Adam Kinzinger, a former darling of Tea Party.
Charlie Sykes, a former conservative talk-radio host notable for promulgating unfounded voter fraud allegations, is another name that has joined Harris’s strange endorsement list. Sykes, high on his extremely conspicuous political flip-flop, stands ready to moderate a discussion between Harris and Cheney in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield.
In his Milwaukee radio prime, Sykes was known to regularly hint at the existence of some nebulous external entities interfering with local elections through voter fraud. Back in 2009, he stood alongside Sarah Palin, hosting an event for the anti-abortion group, Wisconsin Right to Life.
Until 2016, Sykes was synonymous with right-wing causes in Wisconsin, and he played a pivotal role in the political ascendance of Senator Ron Johnson and Governor Scott Walker. However, when it came to Donald J. Trump’s inaugural presidential foray, Sykes surprisingly emerged as a vocal opponent.
After his unexpected divergence from Trump and his ideological brethren, Sykes went on to pen a book criticizing conservatives who supported Trump. In 2021, he took another drastic leap by stepping away from the Republican party, and this month, he announced his support for Kamala Harris.
Reflecting on his past conduct, Sykes admitted, ‘There are a lot of things that I’m embarrassed about now and regret, and for which I have apologized.’ He expressed his intent to make up for past actions, delineated in his book titled ‘How the Right Lost its Mind.’
Sykes’ appearance with Harris aligns with her campaign’s obvious aim to rope in suburban voters, a demographic that Sykes’ radio show once catered to. Coincidentally, Sarah Longwell, another Republican who has displayed support for Harris, is all set to co-moderate this event.
Interestingly, Harris, in her pursuit of capturing a variety of support, is also making attempts to connect with the Black voters, a group constantly at the receiving end of Sykes’s on-air potshots. Sykes’s pejorative nickname for Mrs. Obama marked a particularly glaring incident, which he later dismissed as ‘a brain-fart type thing’.
Sykes’s subsequent apology for the remark, and his claim to have the ‘deepest respect for the former first lady’, appear to be a rather convenient change of tune. Mrs. Obama is likely to campaign alongside Harris next Saturday, but Harris’s campaign strategically remains silent on Sykes’s past disparaging comments.
Sykes, a critic of Republicans who changed their values to back Trump, has shared these views in his books and broadcasts. Currently, local Democrats seem to overlook their uncertainties about Sykes, expressing satisfaction at having him apparently in their corner.
It’s rather astonishing to witness ‘the shrieking voice’ that once made wild claims of pervasive voter fraud has now been accepted by mainstream Democrats, as noted by Scot Ross, who formerly led a progressive Wisconsin group that often clashed with Sykes. Ross stated, ‘Now the mainstream Democratic apparatus has embraced him because he’s right on Trump.’
It’s particularly intriguing that Sykes, who had elicited waves of criticism with his voter fraud claims, is now being welcomed by those who he once severely criticized. His new journey signifies either an astonishing shift in his conviction or indicates the opportunistic nature of politics.
While Harris continues to amass a peculiar assortment of endorsements, it raises several questions. Is she truly rallying support or merely capitalizing on the repudiated figures of conservative circles? And are these endorsements contributing to her campaign’s credibility or inadvertently offering avenues for bewilderment and criticism?
It remains to be seen whether Harris’s explicit strategy to reach out to suburban voters and her peculiar embracement of once fierce critics like Sykes will fuel her political campaign or create incongruities that might disrupt her political narrative.