Harris teams up with top anti-Trump Republican ahead of Bret Baier Fox News interview

WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pennsylvania — As she ramps up her efforts to court disgruntled Republicans in her battle with former President Trump for the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday took a two-pronged approach.

The Democratic presidential nominee teamed up in battleground Pennsylvania with more than 100 anti-Trump Republicans, including one of the most vocal and visible, former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger.

Following her campaign event at the historic park where George Washington crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night 1776 — a turning point moment in the American Revolutionary War — the vice president will sit down with Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier for an interview that will run on "Special Report" at 6 p.m. ET.

With less than three weeks until Election Day, Harris and Trump are locked in a margin-of-error race in the key swing states.

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While Trump retains vast sway over the GOP, a small sliver of Republicans supporting Harris could make an important impact in what will likely be a race within the margins in the battleground states.

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Kinzinger, who flew missions as a pilot in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and later served a dozen years as a conservative member of Congress, had a prominent speaking role at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August, when Harris gave her nomination acceptance speech.

"As a military guy, I've always respected strength in leadership. Donald Trump is the opposite of that. He is a weak, small, tiny man who is scared to death," Kinzinger charged.

Kinzinger was one of only two Republicans who served on a special select committee organized by House Democrats that investigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters aiming to prevent the Congressional certification of the 2020 election.

The other was former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the one-time rising conservative star among House Republicans who became a leading GOP crusader against Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Biden. 

Cheney formally endorsed Harris as the two teamed up at a campaign event in swing state Wisconsin two weeks ago.

The vice president on Wednesday was also joined at her event in Bucks County — a key swing county north of Philadelphia — by former Republican Reps. Barbara Comstack of Virginia, Jim Greenwood of Pennsylvania, Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma, Denver Riggleman of Virginia, Chris Shays of Connecticut and David Trott of Michigan, as well as former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and former aides who served in the Trump administration.

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As she did at her event with Cheney, Harris spotlighted the importance of patriotism and upholding the Constitution in a bipartisan call for putting country above party in this election.

Cheney's father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, has also endorsed Harris.

Harris is also backed by more than 200 alumni who served in both Bush administrations or worked for the late Sen. John McCain and Sen. Mitt Romney, the 2008 and 2012 GOP presidential nominees, respectively. She is also supported by more than 100 Republican former national security officials and other prominent Republicans.

Pointing to the Republicans standing behind her on the stage on Wednesday, Harris said "we are here today because we share a core belief that we must put country over party."

"At stake in this election is the Constitution of the United States," she emphasized.

Harris also asserted there's "a profound difference between Donald Trump and me. He, who violated the oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. And make no mistake, he, who, if given the chance, will violate it again. Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, and he refused to accept the will of the people."

The Trump campaign fired back.

"It’s quite pathetic to see former ‘Republicans’ of the past dug up out of irrelevance to have one last moment in the sun by campaigning for another four years of unlimited illegal immigration, rising prices, and endless wars under Kamala Harris. Fortunately, as with any other theatrical prop, they’re all going to be tossed aside the moment they stop being useful for Democrats — which will be November 5th, when President Trump is re-elected by Pennsylvanians," Trump campaign Pennsylvania spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News.

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Following Wednesday's event, the vice president is expected to sit with Baier for approximately 25–30 minutes at around 5 p.m. ET, about an hour before "Special Report" airs live.

"We are going to run it uninterrupted, unedited, all the way," Baier said on the eve of the interview.

The vice president's first formal interview on Fox News will give her a chance to speak directly to viewers across the ideological spectrum who normally do not watch the rival cable news networks CNN and MSNBC.

"Special Report" is regularly among the most-watched programs on cable news, and the show's "Common Ground" segment features political leaders from across the aisle discussing the issues of the day with the goal of finding compromise.

"We have a lot of eyeballs. We have Democrats, independents and Republicans," Baier said. "We have the biggest cable news audience. And this is probably going to get a lot more eyeballs. I think tough but fair is what I pitched it as. And I think that's what they're going to see."

Harris largely avoided interviews after replacing President Biden atop the Democrats' 2024 ticket in mid-July. Her first formal sit-down interview with CNN did not happen until late August. However, she has ramped up her media appearances in recent weeks, including interviews with CBS News' "60 Minutes," ABC's "The View," late night talk show host Stephen Colbert, radio personality Howard Stern and numerous podcasts. Most of those encounters were perceived as friendly interviews.

The interview with Baier on Fox News, however, may feed the perception that the vice president in the closing stretch of the campaign is open to facing tough questions.

"She knows there are going to be hard questions. She can handle those," seasoned Democratic strategist and communicator Chris Moyer told Fox News. "Going through that process and handling that, you're kind of going behind enemy lines a little bit."

Harris will be the first Democratic presidential nominee in eight years to sit for an interview on Fox News, when Hillary Clinton spoke with Chris Wallace in 2016.

However, leading Harris surrogates — including Govs. Gavin Newsom of California and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — have made high-profile appearances on Fox News this summer and autumn.

Additionally, Democratic vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota was interviewed on "Fox News Sunday" the past two weekends.

The Harris sit-down with Baier comes the same day that Fox News ran a town hall with Trump, with the former president fielding questions on issues such as abortion and child care from an all-female audience.

The program, recorded on Tuesday in battleground Georgia, ran Wednesday morning on "The Faulkner Focus."

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