First Republican Elector Joins Anti-Trump Revolt

A Republican elector has become the first of his party to join an unprecedented Electoral College revolt against President-elect Donald Trump, an effort led by eight Democratic electors that seeks to block the looming far-right administration from taking power in January.

The Democratic electors have sought to throw their support behind an alternative Republican candidate, in an effort to persuade Republican electors to join the anti-Trump revolt. The 538 electors cast their votes for president on December 19.

Christopher Suprun, an elector from Dallas, Texas, explained Tuesday in a New York Times op-ed why he refuses to vote for Trump. His perspective demonstrates that those on the right with fealty to the “party of Reagan,” as Suprun puts it, may find common cause with progressives and Democrats when it comes to opposing Trump:

“Fifteen years ago, I swore an oath to defend my country and Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” Suprun wrote. “On Dec. 19, I will do it again.”

Politico reported Monday that Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig is working with a California-based law firm to provide legal support for the electors planning to oppose Trump, which in some states violates the law.

“More significantly, Lessig said, the Trust will offer a platform—with guaranteed anonymity—for electors to strategize about stopping Trump from taking the White House,” the outlet wrote. Lessig’s effort launches Tuesday.

The group of “faithless electors”—the term for those electors who are refusing to vote for their party’s nominee—has also attempted to garner support for their campaign from the Clinton camp, Politico reports. But Clinton’s allies and Hillary Clinton herself have refrained from commenting publicly on the effort.