In today’s episode of The Depolarizers, I’m in conversation with
, who helped lead Biden Republicans in 2020 and Republicans for Harris in 2024. Reed is also a 2025 Democracy Practitioner Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy, and a member of the American Enterprise Institute’s Millennial Leadership Network.Reed writes about centrism and rejecting extremism on his Substack, Maverick.
You can catch Reed at WelcomeFest on June 4 in Washington, DC! RSVP here.
To start, I asked Reed about the depolarizing organizations he’s helped lead in the past two election cycles, Biden Republicans and Republicans for Harris.
We started Biden Republicans as a grassroots organization because people kept asking for ways to be involved that honored the fact that they were Republicans. We saw a real need to create a permission structure so folks could hold onto this identity that mattered deeply to them while making a clear statement that Donald Trump was unacceptable to their conservative values and Republican identity.
That's how it began. We put together a social media account, did a call for like-minded people, and organized virtual town halls. The pandemic had just started, and at our first meeting, we had a guest speaker and about 13 attendees, which felt good. We thought, "Okay, there are 13 Republicans here." At the next meeting, we had around 30 attendees. Then we decided to organize another rally to help people talk with their Republican family members and neighbors about why they should put country over party. About 300 people attended the next event, and by the fifth one, attendance grew to around 3,000.
We decided to start broadcasting these rallies to a bigger audience on social media. Toward the end of the campaign, about 400,000 people participated in these virtual rallies. Just think about it—Republicans were coming together to learn how to talk to other Republicans about supporting the Democratic nominee. It was a historic sign that the leader of the Republican Party at the time was unfit to serve.
The energy around people recognizing something was wrong while still needing a tribe to belong to is one of the most important lessons that remains relevant today. We are a tribal people; politics needs to be community-based and community-driven. Finding ways for people to take a fundamental step like breaking with their own party requires coalition-building and fostering a sense of community.
Reed and I discussed the intra-party tension on the right, focused on the divide between the populist right and old-school conservatives:
I'm deeply troubled by what we're seeing on the right, especially by the rise of nativism in the party, the rise of demonizing folks who we might not agree with or folks who are from different backgrounds than us. It's a real problem, and the fact that it has been a winning strategy now for the last 12 years within the Republican Party means that it's going to stick around for a little bit. It's going to take a really concerted effort to push that ideology out of the GOP, and it might be something that we are contending with for the next 20 to 30 years of our political life.
The values of liberal democracy, of an open society, of a place that embraces pluralism, need a champion. It requires people to be courageous, and particularly requires leaders to step up and speak out. A lot of folks have written off Washington and said there's no way we're going to have an elected [Republican] senator or representative speak out against Donald Trump and some of the loudest siren voices. I would push back on that and say, maybe nobody currently exists that's willing to do that. But at the end of the day, the biggest way to shift the narrative and the ideology of the party is by electing a leader who can win on those ideas. The lifeblood of politics is winning elections. So we have to be engaging in the battle of politics in order to win the ideological debate.
In conservative history, William F. Buckley pioneered this fusionist model of conservative politics, and Ronald Reagan gave those ideas force because he won. I don't think we're going to have a meaningful shift back towards a more pro-democracy, pro-pluralism Republican Party without an elected leader who can take us there. We need to generate ideas, we need think tanks to form, we need a media ecosystem to share ideas, we need grassroots folks to organize and mobilize and not give up hope. But ultimately, it's going to take a leader to run on these ideas and bring them to life.
We discussed the ways that Harris struggled to distance herself from her in 2019 positions, and how that affected support among the Republican voters Reed was working to engage:
Absolutely, Harris wasn’t a credible centrist to so many voters who were center-right or conservative and voted for Joe Biden in 2020—that's just the pure fact. A lot of it has to do with the statements she made during her 2019 primary campaign and her inability to effectively communicate that she had changed her position. She was unwilling to clarify beyond saying, "My values have remained the same, but my policies have changed." Her reluctance to dive into specifics left voters with many unanswered questions, which ultimately hurt her.
Being authentic and demonstrating a lifetime commitment to a consistent set of values is something voters genuinely care about today, and I imagine this will continue to be important moving forward. Consider someone like Bernie Sanders, who has consistently identified as a Democratic Socialist throughout his career: when he gained national prominence in 2016, people really responded to his authenticity. This is why someone like Andy Beshear, who has governed pragmatically throughout his career, or Josh Shapiro, who has been an incredible leader in Pennsylvania, will likely attract centrist and center-right voters in future elections.
And, as with all of our guests, I asked Reed how listeners can depolarize their lives:
I think the number one thing is to go do something in your community. The other day, I went with my church, and we made meals for kids who were hungry. It wasn't related to politics at all, but it was so fun just to get together with people from my neighborhood and do something for folks in need. Building up that connective tissue is the number one thing we can do to depolarize our communities.
Life is so much bigger than politics. If you're spending too much time on Twitter, reading the news, and worrying about the world, of course, you're going to feel distraught and hopeless. But if you get outside, start talking to your neighbors, and serve your community, that's how we build the thriving democracy we want. Mother Teresa said, "If you want to change the world, go home and love your family." I think we need more of that—more time with our loved ones, friends, trivia nights, book clubs, and helping feed people in need—rather than spending all our energy on political battles.
Like what you’re hearing? Listen to the full episode on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts, and subscribe to hear new episodes of The Depolarizers. You can also support our work to depolarize American politics via our 501(c)3, The Welcome Democracy Institute. Be sure to join us at WelcomeFest on June 4 in DC!
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