Former 'Republican' senator endorses Harris

Jeff Flake has just endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. 

He made the endorsement, according to AZ Central, in an interview that he did on Saturday.

The question, of course, is whether his endorsement is going to help or hurt Harris. The reality is probably neither.

Background

For those who do not know Flake, he is a former U.S. Senator from Arizona who calls himself a Republican.

He, though, made a name for himself as one of the most anti-Trump members of Congress, which he proved with his endorsement of Harris, in the 2024 election, and his endorsement of President Joe Biden, in the 2020 presidential election.

Flake has been rewarded for his endorsement of Biden. During the past couple of years, he has been the administration's United States ambassador to Turkey.

How many Republicans do you know who are part of the Biden administration?

"I'm a conservative"

Flake, over the weekend, appeared on ABC News's This Week to discuss his endorsement of Harris in the 2024 election.

There, he called on other Republicans to do the same, saying:

Well, I think Republicans believe in the rule of law, in particular, and it’s difficult to support a candidate who, having lost an election, tries to use the powers of the presidency to overturn that election that is anything but respect for the rule of law. So I know that a lot of conservative Republicans feel the way I do, that you just can’t support a candidate like that.

Many would argue that this is an egregious mischaracterization of what happened after the 2020 election - that Trump was merely challenging the results of the election, as many politicians have done before. It sure would be interesting to see that list of "conservative Republicans" that Flake knows.

Why Harris?

Leaving that off to the side, Flake went on to essentially campaign for Harris.

He, for example, said:

One thing that she brings to the table is that she knows how to work on a bipartisan basis, and if we do immigration reform that endures, it’s going to have to be bipartisan. So, I’m obviously very pleased that she would sign the legislation that was worked up in the Senate. That’s what we need to do. It needs to be bipartisan in order for it to be lasting.

The big question is whether Flake, with this endorsement, is trying to rise in the world of Democratic politics. Could he, for example, be trying to get a spot on Harris's cabinet?

Otherwise, this all appears to be little more than an attempt by Flake to stay relevant.