Vice President Kamala Harris received new Republican support from a critical swing state on Sunday when former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake endorsed her for president.

Flake is the latest in a line of prominent current and former Republicans who have emerged as Harris’ most ardent supporters as the Democratic presidential nominee seeks to win over conservative and moderate voters who have been wooed by former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee. were deterred by this year’s election.

Flake, a Republican who has long been critical of Trump, announced his support for Harris in a post on

“I am a conservative Republican who has had the honor of serving my home state of Arizona in the United States House of Representatives and Senate for nearly two decades. I believe that America is a great country. “I believe our best days are ahead of us.” “I want to support a candidate for president who believes the same,” Flake said in a statement.

The former senator added: “I believe that we do not have to agree on every issue or policy, but rather that we should use the political process created by our founders to debate and persuade, not to disparage and demonize . For all of these reasons, I will support Kamala Harris for President and Tim Walz for Vice President. I would encourage all Republicans who feel this way to do the same. After all, in times like these, there is nothing more conservative than putting country over party.

In 2021, before the joint session of Congress, Flake encouraged his fellow Republicans to push back against Trump and his efforts to block the certification of the 2020 election results.

“It is difficult to understand how so many of my fellow Republicans were able, and continue to be able, to entertain the fantasy that they had not abruptly abandoned the principles in which they professed to believe,” wrote Flake in a comment posted on the website Time in The New York Times.

After six terms in the House and six years in the Senate, the lifelong Republican decided not to seek a second term in the Senate after the GOP embraced Trump. He previously served as U.S. ambassador to Turkey after President Joe Biden nominated him in 2021 and was slated to take the post in 2022.

Newsweek Harris and Trump’s campaign emailed for comment.

Flake’s support comes at a time when the vice president could use a boost in Arizona, a critical swing state with 11 votes in the Electoral College.

Battleground states, including Arizona, will play a key role in determining the outcome of this year’s election because the Electoral College allocates a certain number of electoral votes to each state based on population. A presidential candidate must secure 270 electoral votes to win, and winning the national popular vote is no guarantee of success. Polls from battleground states can be more meaningful than polls at the national level.

Polls have shown Harris and Trump in a close battle for the White House nationwide, but Trump is slightly ahead in Arizona.

According to a survey by USA TODAYAccording to a Suffolk University study released Friday, Trump has a 6-point lead over Harris in Arizona – 48 percent to 42 percent. The poll was conducted between September 21 and 24 with 500 voters surveyed nationwide and has a margin of error of 4.4 percent.

That poll was released the same day Harris made her first campaign visit to the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a rally in Arizona.

Immigration is a key issue in Arizona, affecting 21 percent USA TODAY/Suffolk University survey respondents said this was their top priority. According to a Fox News poll released on September 26, 56 percent of respondents said they trust Trump to do a better job on border security, while 41 percent of respondents believe Harris is stronger on the issue.

When asked about Harris’ and her stance on immigration on ABC News’ This week On Sunday, Flake said, “I’m glad she went to the border and I was pleased to hear what she had to say about wanting tougher policies than those of the Biden administration.” One thing she brings to the table is that she knows how to work in a bipartisan way, and if we’re going to do permanent immigration reform, it has to be bipartisan.”

Harris’ primary immigration policy is a call to bring back the bipartisan border bill that was blocked by Senate Republicans, including Trump’s vice president, JD Vance of Ohio, after the former president took a stand against it in an effort to bring immigration to the forefront during the entire election.

Meanwhile, Trump’s lead over Harris in the new poll mirrors several other polls released last week that have shown him gaining ground in Arizona, although a poll released Thursday by Bloomberg News/Morning Consult showed Harris with a lead The former president had three points.

The overall picture from polls in Arizona suggests that the presidential race remains close. The average of recent polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight shows the former president leading the vice president by 1.2 percent as of Sunday.

This came as Biden narrowly defeated Trump in 2020, becoming the first Democrat to defeat a Republican presidential candidate in Arizona since former President Bill Clinton in 1996.