In August and September 2020, several readers have been questioning the accuracy of a Facebook post that has been widely shared, claiming that no less than 27 Republican lawmakers had been endorsing Joe Biden, the presidential candidate of the Democrats.
On August 24, 2020, the post describing the mass endorsement for Democrat presidential candidate as "unprecedented" and listed the names of those who endorsed Biden
The image posted in Facebook was a screenshot of a news release that was sent out on August 24, 2020, by the campaign for the Democrat presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Reportedly, it was true that the Biden has been endorsed by each of the mentioned 27 Republican lawmakers.
Although Snopes.com noted that the meme could potentially misdirect the readers by not specifying that the people on the list who were said to have endorsed Biden were no longer part of the U.S. Congress.
On the other hand, it has been clearly stated by the campaign press release those people on the list who endorsed Biden were former Republican Congress members.
A long list of former Republican lawmakers with the corresponding year they started to serve their state and the year they finished their term were included, and the dates when each of them endorsed Biden were included.
Reportedly, the list of 27 former Republican members of the U.S Congress was reliable and authentic. The group included just one of the hundred endorsements received by Biden from well-known Republicans, whose quantity and importance were accounted for what could be described as an unmatched level of support among officials and lawmakers for the presidential candidate of a rival party.
As reported by CNN, a considerable number of officials of the national security in 1980 broke party lines to endorse and support Ronald Reagan over Jimmy Carter.
Issues between major parties for supporting a candidate from the opposing party have grown so bitter that resulted in third parties, full-splits, and contested conventions, as noted by the Pew Research in 2016.
The dissatisfaction of the Republicans from actions taken by Trump has not emerged to that certain level in 2020, but the number of cross-party supports received by Biden has been remarkable.
During the 1972 presidential election, Democrat former governor of Texas and U.S Treasury secretary, John Connally, spearheaded a committee that was called "Democrats for Nixon."
Well-known Democratic office-holders asked voters to decline the populist, an anti-war platform of the party's candidate, U.S. Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota, giving support to re-elect Nixon.
The Democrats who gave support to Nixon included Connally himself; Nashville mayor, Beverly Briley; former mayor of Boston, John Collins; former governor of Florida, Farris Bryant; International Brotherhood of Teamsters president, Frank Fitzsimmons; Miami Mayor David Kennedy; and former director of United States Information Agency, which is now a nonfunctional U.S. federal agency for public relations and overseas, Leonard Marks.
In the 1972 presidential election, Nixon also received public support from James and John Roosevelt, sons of former U.S President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Related article: : Trump Calls Out Biden, Harris on Remarks About COVID-19 Vaccine
