In Harrisburg stop, former Trump voters call for swing state Republicans to vote for Kamala Harris

George Conway speaks to reporters outside a Sheetz gas station in Harrisburg during the Republican Voters Against Trump tour Oct. 18, 2024 (Photo by Ben Wasserstein for the Capital-Star)

Jim Skovgard flew out from Casper, Wyo., to urge Republican voters in Pennsylvania to vote blue this election. Skovgard, a former National Guard member, voted for Donald Trump in 2016 but said he was fed up with Trump's spread of false information.

"I want to counter lies with truth and patriotism," he said. "You can't represent the country if you don't represent, if you don't respect the Constitution. Donald Trump does not respect the Constitution."

He added the oath he took to serve is one he will not give up. "From my standpoint, as a patriot, as a supporter of the Constitution, I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, very similar to the oath that the president takes," he said. "When you see somebody disregard that oath, you have to ask yourself, when does my oath end? My oath never ends."

Skovgard was one of a dozen former Trump voters traveling through Pennsylvania and Michigan to urge Republican voters to pick Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, this November. The tour, launched by Republican Voters Against Trump, stopped at a Sheetz in Harrisburg Friday morning before taking off for an event in Pittsburgh that evening.

Pennsylvania is seen as a "must-win" state for both campaigns, with its 19 electoral votes.

The vote margin was thin in Pennsylvania for the past two presidential elections with Trump winning in 2016 by around and Joe Biden winning in 2020 by around

For comparison, the city of Harrisburg has a population of around Sarah Longwell, executive director of Republican Voters Against Trump, is leading the tour and said Trump abandoned Republican policies.

"Donald Trump came and hijacked the Republican Party and he totally has cast aside any dedication to free markets, American leadership in the world, limited government," she said. "These are principles that Donald Trump completely eliminated from the Republican party when he hijacked it."

Following Joe Biden's decision to leave the presidential race, Trump became the oldest nominee in American history.

In addition to Trump's attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Longwell said that his age adds to her unease should he get a new administration. "Going into his next administration, if he were to win, not only would he be as old as Joe Biden is now, right, he would be 82 at the end of his term," Longwell said. " I think that is a very dangerous person to have in charge of the nuclear codes. This is a guy who left classified information just sitting around his bathroom, who lies all the time, who tried to overthrow the American election system."

In July, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that presidents have certain immunities when acting in an official role. Longwell said that adds to her concern.

"There's no accountability now," she said. "Donald Trump, the Supreme Court has basically given him free rein to break the law in his next administration."

Also in attendance was George Conway, ex-husband of former senior counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway.

Conway was slated to become assistant attorney general for the civil division under Trump but ultimately chose not to join after seeing how things were running. "I thought it was such a, frankly, a s–t show that I thought there was something wrong with and I couldn't figure it quite out," he said. "But as I kept watching, I realized it was the best thing I ever did, not going into that administration."

He also expressed concern over the Supreme Court's ruling. "The Supreme Court basically says he can do that without fear of criminal prosecution," he said. "And that is a scary thing, and it wasn't something that the framers of the Constitution intended."

The Trump campaign didn't immediately reply to a request for comment from the Capital-Star.

Ursula Schneider from Tucson, Ariz., voted for Joe Biden in 2020, the first time she has voted Democratic. She said years of division brought by Trump swayed her decision.

"I did that because it seemed to me that he was going to really work hard to bring unity back and to work for all the people instead of just for his own party," she said. "And I think he's done that, and I've been pleased to watch the way he's governed."

Both Skovgard and Schneider expressed concern with the future of American democracy should Trump be reelected.

But they were also worried about other things.

Skovgard is a fifth-generation immigrant and said he believes the Republican party has been demonizing them.

"This is a whole group of people that has no representation, and when you attack a group that has no representation or feels fear, and you stoke that fear, that's wrong," he said.

He said he met with two first-generation immigrants in Philadelphia who were "scared to death" to speak about anything to do with immigration.

Schneider cited issues such as women's rights and climate change. "There are literally people with a public platform, like a loud platform, who are suggesting that women shouldn't be able to vote anymore," she said. One example is the current North Carolina Lieutenant Governor and GOP nominee for Governor Mark Robinson who, in 2020, said he wants to go back to a time when women couldn't vote.

The bus tour kicked off in Philadelphia and will conclude in Detroit on Saturday.

The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 5 election in Pennsylvania is Oct. 21.