Republicans Will Secretly Cheer Walz during Debate: Friend

Tim Walz 's former roommate and fellow lawmaker claims there’s a secret cabal of Republicans that supports Kamala Harris but whose members are too chicken to cross Donald Trump.

Former Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA) who was elected to the House of Representatives in 2006 alongside Walz told the Daily Beast Tuesday that not only will he be rooting for his ex-roomie to defeat JD Vance in Tuesday night’s debate, but former colleagues on the other side of the aisle will be, too.

“There’s a silent majority out there that wants to send a message to Donald Trump that he was fired once for a reason,” Murphy told the Daily Beast Tuesday.

The only problem with these GOP members is that they fear Trump, who—in spite of everything—still has an iron grip on the GOP congressional establishment.

Former Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona is the latest GOP ex-member of Congress to endorse Harris , joining the likes of former Republican Reps. Jim Greenwood, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. Cheney’s father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, has also endorsed Harris.

Walz’s friend Murphy, who served on House Armed Services when Walz served on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said he regularly texts with Republicans who say they support Harris and don’t want another four years of Trump in the White House.

“But they’re afraid,” he said, adding that Trump’s most recent personal attacks on Harris may be the final blow for Republicans who are privately fed up with the former president and 2024 GOP nominee. Murphy declined to name names.

“More Republicans will definitely be coming out to endorse Harris,” he predicted. “After lying about cats and dogs being eaten, Obama not being born in America, he’s now turning on her with false claims about a mental disability,” said Murphy, a combat veteran who served as a paratrooper with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq.

Questions over the accuracy of Walz’s statements about his service are almost certain to feature in the debate. Vance left the National Guard before his unit was deployed to Iraq in combat, with veterans who served with him divided over whether he was right to leave .

But Murphy called Walz a “barrel-chested American soldier” who’s “gonna take it and give it right back” in Tuesday’s showdown against Vance, the polished Yale Law School graduate.

“There are Republicans and Democrats who would run through a wall for Tim Walz,” Murphy said.

Read more at The Daily Beast.