I’m a life-long Republican. I’m worried, and I’m voting for Biden.

Dear Trump voters:

I’m an American just like you.

I’m concerned about our country, just like you.

I’m a lifelong Republican, just like many of you.

I’m a Protestant Christian believer, just like many of you.

I have Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, Muslim and non-believer family and friends. We are all Americans.

I’m opposed to abortion, just like many of you. I believe in exceptions for rape, incest, health of the mother and inability of the fetus to survive outside the womb.

I believe better than legislation, good health care and free birth control are the key to reduced abortions. Free birth control is in current federal law. Protection for pre-existing conditions is in current Federal Law.

The current administration should stop trying to take that away from us.

I’m the descendant of immigrants, just like many of you. I have friends that are first generation immigrants, just like many of you. I have family members and friends that are descendants of African slaves, just like many of you. I have family members that are part Native American, just like many of you.

I’m a supporter of the U.S. military, just like you. I have veterans and active duty military in my family.

I respect our all-volunteer military and our drafted veterans that served, just like you.

I’m a straight married guy, just like many of you. Unlike some of you, I have a lesbian family member. I performed her wedding ceremony to her wife a few years ago. I support LGBTQ rights.

I’m a white guy, just like many of you.

Like many of you, I worry about the safety of my family. I worry about the safety of my extended family. I have an African-American niece and two beautiful African-American grandnieces. I worry about their safety as they grow up. Unlike me, they have to be extra careful in America wherever they go.

I support the majority of those serving as our police, just like you. Because I support the police, I want them to operate to protect all Americans. Because for years now, African-Americans are shot and killed by police at two and a half times the rate of whites like me, my nephew and niece have to teach their African-American daughters extra safety measures. As they grow older, unless we change policing, they will be in danger of being shot and killed by police for being American while Black. I support the peaceful Black Lives Matters demonstrators fighting for changes in policing.

I’m on Social Security, just like many of you. I’m concerned about the security of the Social Security Trust Fund, just like many of you. I’m concerned about medical costs, just like many of you. I’m on Medicare and worried about Medicare funding, just like many of you.

I’m very concerned about our national debt, just like many of you.

In fact, one of the very few times I didn’t vote Republican for President, I voted for Ross Perot, because I was concerned about the national debt.

I am very concerned about the 2017 tax cut because it did not turn out as promised. The individual tax cut was limited, small and temporary. The corporate tax cut was huge and permanent. More than half of it was used by large corporations to buy back their own stocks, instead of new investments and improved workers’ wages. It did not pay for itself as promised. It’s adding $1.5 to $2 trillion to our national debt.

I’m concerned about Covid-19, just like many of you. I’m concerned about this pandemic that has already killed 200,000 Americans.

I’m 68 and I’m scared.

I have decided this year to vote Democrat for President, as many other lifelong Republicans are doing.

Please join me and vote Biden/Harris.

They will lead us better than the current administration.

Chuck Eddy is a former Republican Congressional Candidate in Lexington.

This story was originally published September 22, 2020 at 2:04 PM.