Biden seeks to win over progressives and Republicans on night one | TheHill

One man from Illinois said he believed Biden would “turn our country’s political discourse back to normal decency.”Others said they’d grown tired of Trump’s volatile presidency, whether it was his response to the coronavirus or tariffs levied against farmers amid the president’s trade war with China.Before Kasich spoke, three prominent Republican women – former New Jersey Gov. Christine Whitman, former Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman, and former Rep. Susan Molinari (D-N.Y.) – explained why they would be crossing party lines in 2020.“Joe Biden is a really good man and exactly what this nation needs at this time,” Molinari said.Kasich acknowledged how strange it was for the Republicans to be addressing the Democratic convention.“In normal times, something like this would probably never have happened, but these aren’t normal times,” Kasich said.Trump blasted back at Kasich, saying he “was a loser as a Republican and he’ll be a loser as a Democrat.”The Trump campaign ripped the former Republicans as “useful idiots for the radical left.”Polls show Trump has near-universal support within the Republican Party.There is some question as to whether the “Never Trump” Republicans are mostly a Washington phenomenon that receives outsized media attention for opposing Trump, or if there is a broad swath of the GOP electorate that is open to abandoning the president.The Biden campaign’s outreach to Republicans is largely an effort to reach a key portion of Trump’s 2016 coalition – right-leaning independents and suburban voters, who helped deliver the House to Democrats in 2018.Trump won big among independents in 2016 but polls show Biden running up the score in 2020 among independents and suburban voters.“Democrats, independents, and yes, many Republicans are tired of his divisiveness,” Sen. Amy KlobucharAmy KlobucharThe Memo — Michelle Obama shines, scorching Trump Biden seeks to win over progressives and Republicans on night one Vulnerable Senate Democrat urges unity: 'Not about what side of the aisle we're on' MORE (D-Minn.) said on Monday night.Klobuchar is one of several moderate Democrats featured on the convention’s first night that the campaign believes will appeal to some of those potential crossover voters.The Biden campaign still has an uneasy alliance with the left, underscored by two progressive lawmakers – Reps.