Harris to court moderates with a one-time right-wing provocateur
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US Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris campaigning in Michigan, a key battleground state, on Oct 18.
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP
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WASHINGTON – US Vice-President Kamala Harris’ efforts to showcase her campaign’s political embrace of Republicans have led to the endorsements of arch-conservatives like Ms Liz Cheney and one-time Tea Party darlings like Mr Adam Kinzinger.
Now, Ms Harris can boast the backing of a well-known former right-wing firebrand who amplified false claims of voter fraud and once referred to former first lady Michelle Obama in racist terms.
Mr Charlie Sykes, a former conservative talk-radio host, is scheduled to moderate a conversation with Ms Harris and Ms Cheney on Oct 21 in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield. He has undertaken a political transformation that is perhaps greater than either Ms Cheney’s or Mr Kinzinger’s.
During his heyday on Milwaukee radio, he regularly suggested shadowy outside forces were engaging in voter fraud to rig local elections and on occasion referred to Mrs Obama using the racist sobriquet “Mooch”. In 2009, he emceed an event with Ms Sarah Palin for the anti-abortion group Wisconsin Right to Life.
Until 2016, when he emerged as a leading conservative critic of Donald Trump’s first presidential bid, Mr Sykes was a reliable mouthpiece for right-wing causes in Wisconsin. He was instrumental in the political rise of Senator Ron Johnson and Governor Scott Walker, Republicans he later broke with after turning on Trump.
More recently, Mr Sykes wrote a book denouncing Trump-allied conservatives and became an explainer of the political right on MSNBC and centre-right outlet The Bulwark, which he founded in 2018 and left in February.
In 2021, Mr Sykes announced he was no longer a Republican. In October, he said he would vote for Ms Harris.
“There are a lot of things that I’m embarrassed about and now regret and for which I have apologised,” he said on Oct 19. “I wrote a book – How The Right Lost Its Mind – and have spent more than a few years trying to atone for a lot of that.”
Mr Sykes is set to appear with Ms Harris at a moment when her campaign is making an explicit appeal to the same suburban voters who once made up the bulk of his listeners.
The event, co-moderated by Ms Sarah Longwell, a Republican supporter of Ms Harris, is part of a series intended to do just that. But Ms Harris is also trying to reach black voters who for years were the target of Mr Sykes’ on-air ire.
His nickname for Mrs Obama was perhaps Mr Sykes’ most striking remark. He said it on air, on social media and in online commentary. In a 2017 interview with Slate, he said the pejorative amounted to “a brain-fart type thing”.
“That is something I am not offering any rationalisation for,” he added then. “Yeah, sorry about that.”
On Oct 19, Mr Sykes said he “has the deepest respect for the former first lady”.
The Harris campaign declined to comment on his past remarks about Mrs Obama, who is set to campaign with Ms Harris on Oct 26.
In his books and commentary online and on television, Mr Sykes has blamed other Republicans for changing their values to support Trump.
Local Democrats now say they have mostly put aside their reservations about Mr Sykes and are happy to have him on their side.
“He was the shrieking voice that there was voter fraud everywhere for 10 years,” said Mr Scot Ross, who led a progressive Wisconsin group that for years tangled with Mr Sykes. “Now the mainstream Democratic apparatus has embraced him because he’s right on Trump.” NYTIMES
