She once stormed the Capitol for Trump. Now, she’ll be supporting Kamala Harris in November

Pamela Hemphill’s Christmas present from her brother in 2021 was flying out to Washington, D.C., from her hometown of Boise, Idaho, to see Donald Trump hold his "Stop the Steal" rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6.

Hemphill, 71, who voted for the former president in 2016 and 2020, told USA TODAY she’d only seen Trump’s rallies on television prior to Jan. 6 and thought they looked peaceful. But that day in D.C., she said, felt different.

Arriving at the rally late, Hemphill said she heard from different people Trump would be going to the Capitol while lawmakers were certifying votes that would finalize President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election − and that a crowd would be going with him to protest the results.

A few weeks prior to the riot, Hemphill said, she had undergone breast cancer surgery.

Holding a phone strapped to a selfie stick , Hemphill, surrounded by other Trump supporters and far-right extremist groups including the Proud Boys, videotaped the riot as she walked inside the Capitol and was later escorted out by law enforcement.

That decision led to her being sentenced to two months in jail, 36 months of probation and $500 restitution after pleading guilty to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol building.

Since then, her attitude has changed.

Today, she calls Jan. 6 “the worst day in our history."

And she’s planning to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, in the general election.

“We got to save our democracy, because Trump wants to turn this... into a dictator(ship),” said Hemphill, a retired substance abuse counselor.

‘A scar I have to carry’

The only time Hemphill had voted for a Democrat was in the 2008 election for former President Barack Obama.

“I like the policies he was talking about at the time, and he's just very intelligent. I just thought he would be good for the country. And you know, it's the first time we had a person of color,” she said.

But Hemphill said she usually votes for whoever her mostly Republican-supporting family recommends. Her family, drawn to Trump’s rallies and messaging, drew Hemphill in as well.

“I didn't realize that brainwashing was happening with Trump in 2016…this is how they would talk to me. ‘Pam, you know, the Democrats…are trying to take over. They're getting more aggressive.’ I tend to believe them. You know, I wasn't doing my own research.”

Hemphill said that Trump’s aggressive rhetoric on the border appealed to her at the time because he “had us (believing) that immigrants were criminals and out to take over our nation.” Trump called immigrants from Mexico “rapists” in 2015 and would use words such as " killer," "invasion" and "alien" in his rallies as a way to stoke fear among his supporters and present himself as the prime candidate to solve the border issue.

Sunmin Kim, an assistant professor of sociology at Dartmouth College, said she sees Trump supporters "as people who are afraid, people who are wary of losing control in their lives” as the society and economy transform.

“All of these factors contribute to the feelings of powerlessness among his supporters, and they want an answer. Immigrants are an easy scapegoat,” she added.

The evening before Jan. 6, Hemphill attended an event hosted by far-right radio host Alex Jones where she was heard saying “let’s go to the Capitol” and “Don’t worry, Trump’s coming in office” in a video she uploaded on her YouTube account, according to a court document. She also advised others to occupy the Capitol, the document says.

“It’s like a scar that I have to carry for the rest of my life…it's gonna be that shame(ful) feeling," she said. "It's not like I knew I was breaking the law, and I broke it anyway. However, I still was a part of that craziness, that cult. So it's like something I can't brush off.”

She said coming across facts by researchers helped her gradually drift apart from the MAGA group. Serving time in prison made Hemphill also rethink “who Trump really was” and the misinformation he spread surrounding the 2020 election, she said, to the point where she lost all support for him.

In an open letter to Congress, Hemphill wrote that "I am not a victim of the government, the Justice Department was not weaponized against me, I was a participant who broke the law."

Hemphill also called out Trump last year after he shared a post on Truth Social criticizing her sentencing as unfair.

“Please don’t be using me for anything,” she wrote in a tweet directed at Trump. “I’m not a victim of Jan6, I pleaded guilty because I was guilty!”

Trump has continued to deflect blame over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. During the first presidential debate in Georgia in June, Trump falsely claimed that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected his request to deploy the National Guard troops that day.

From Obama to Trump to Harris

This coming election, Hemphill said, will have profound consequences for democracy. She referred to Project 2025, an extensive 920-page plan put together by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, that aims to reshape the federal government.

Though Trump has distanced himself from the project, which critics have called “authoritarian,” many officials from his previous administration helped work up the plan.

And the former president, along with being convicted on 34 counts in May for falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment, faces three other criminal indictments - two of which are tied to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. On the campaign trail, he has called for retribution and told his supporters that, “They’re not after me, they’re after you and I just happen to be standing in their way.”

“Trump makes you believe he's a warrior who is willing to lose his life if needed to keep the radical left from taking away your freedom,” Hemphill said.

Hemphill, who lived in Summerville, South Carolina, for 10 to 11 months before moving back to Idaho, voted for President Joe Biden in the South Carolina primaries. But with Biden exiting the race last month over concerns that he can't serve another term, Hemphill said she’ll be placing her support in Harris.

Beyond her initiatives on affordable housing, mental health and human rights, Hemphill also cited Harris’ background as a prosecutor.

“Doesn't matter if it's Trump or me…she stands with law and order. And so it's wonderful that she'll back our justice system and our DOJ with what they're doing because we know Trump's lying and the justice system does not weaponize. So she will be a real good force to allow the justice system to do their job.”

But pushing back against Trump has frayed some of Hemphill's relationships. She says her boyfriend of 12 years left her last year because of her political shift.

She says she's also faced death threats and smear campaigns.

“It's scary… but it's my way of making amends to the country for even being there. And any way I can help, I want to be able to help. So I just got to put away my own fears and what I'm going through and think about what's best for our country.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: She once stormed the Capitol for Trump. Now, she’ll be supporting Kamala Harris in November