Former Trump official, Virginia Republicans rally for Harris in Alexandria

“We’re going to have to destroy this Trumpist strain that’s actually in the Republican Party in order to move forward.”

A former Trump Administration official and two former Virginia Republican US House members made their case in Alexandria on Thursday for why fellow conservatives should join them in supporting Kamala Harris for president. 

The Republicans for Harris event was held at the historic Lloyd House in Old Town Alexandria. 

“A Trump-Vance presidency would be catastrophic here in Virginia,” said Olivia Troye, a former Trump administration national security official. “Particularly, for thousands of civil servants and federal employees, formerly like myself, who would be purged from the federal government.”

Troye explained how Project 2025, the sweeping far-right blueprint for a Trump presidency, proposes to purge and politicize vast swathes of the federal government. Virginia has one of the highest concentrations of federal workers in the country. Courier Newsroom, The Dogwood’s publisher, also publishes a newsletter called We Lived It that is written by Troye.

Troye recounted how she witnessed first-hand how Trump undermined America’s intelligence community, military leaders, and the country’s democratic process. She said that she grew up in the kind of conservative, Catholic and patriotic working class background that Trump pretends to care about.

“Those values were part of the values that made me a Republican,” Troye said. “They’re also the values that made me proud to support Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.”

Barbara Comstock, who represented Virginia’s 10th congressional district in Northern Virginia from 2015 to 2019, said she refused to go along with Trump’s misogyny, pro-Russian leanings, and authoritarian impulses. Comstock criticized Trump’s proposal to raise tariffs because they would raise prices for everyday Americans, and she applauded Harris’s plan to expand the Child Tax Credit.

“I don’t agree with Kamala Harris on everything,” Comstock said. “But she is a leader who will protect our democracy.” 

Denver Riggleman, Virginia’s former 5th District representative, said he was speaking out to give other Republicans permission to vote for Harris. 

“It’s okay to vote for people who are actually sane and rational,” Riggleman said. “And that’s what I want to tell Republicans. We’re going to have to destroy this Trumpist strain that’s actually in the Republican Party in order to move forward.”