Kamala Harris receives surprising support from alt-right's Richard Spencer

Richard Spencer, credited with inventing the term “alt-right,” publicly supported Vice President Kamala Harris and Democrats in the vote in Montana on Friday night.

Spencer, one of 14 organizers ordered to pay millions in a civil lawsuit after he organized the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, told his 93,500 followers on X, formerly Twitter: “I I want you all to know that it's me.” I voted for Kamala Harris and I hope you will too.

Given the somewhat surprising approval, which was due to both his policies and past comments about women, Spencer explained in a telephone interview with Newsweek on Saturday morning: “I just want someone with the necessary competence to take the lead so that something can happen, not for the other side to be demonized.”

Spencer, described by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a “suit-and-tie version of the white supremacists of old, a kind of professional racist in khakis,” added that “among them there is a complete absence of politics “GOP.” It’s the “no” party, it’s an almost nihilistic party,” in contrast to how he sees the Democrats as “more competent,” “able to be reasonable,” and wanting to “run the whole country.”

Spencer made it clear that he is not affiliated with any political party.

In an interview with Newsweek On Saturday, he particularly cited as an example the bipartisan border law that Republicans rejected at the beginning of the year. “If you don’t want things to get better, then you’re kind of evil,” he said.

Spencer announced his support for Harris in a nearly 12-minute video posted on X, saying, “This is not a troll or a joke; This is a sincere vote.”

In the video, he explained what it means to him to vote for a candidate, saying they have to consider “who will best provide stability, security, continuity and most likely be the best manager of the American empire.”

He continued: “When I put it like that, the choice is very clear. I think Donald Trump and the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement bring nothing but stupidity and chaos.”

Newsweek reached out to Harris and Trump's campaign via email on Saturday seeking comment.

Spencer previously praised Trump's victory over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 with the rallying cry: “Hail Trump, Hail Our People, Hail Victory!”

Upon request from Newsweek On why he supported Trump in 2016, Spencer said: “Trump sounded really politically incorrect, nationalistic. And there was the idea that everything was going to change,” adding that there was “this kind of beauty in chaos.”

Now he says: “If we fully implement what they (Trump and his allies) are talking about, it will be a disaster for everyone.”

He pointed out that a Trump administration would be “very intent on destroying” what he called the “American empire,” which includes foreign military bases, the dollar system, major commitments to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and belong more. “I just don’t support that,” he said of the dismantling.

Spencer only supported Trump's first candidacy and in 2020 he supported then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Biden campaign manager Andrew Bates rejected Spencer's endorsement on Twitter.

As he reflected on Biden's presidency, Spencer said Newsweek, “I don’t think Biden was great, but I think he was a pretty good president,” citing the CHIPS Act and the ideas of Build Back Better.

Spencer is a former associate editor of the now-defunct Altright.com and former president of the National Policy Institute. He has repeatedly promoted white supremacist, racist and misogynistic ideologies.

His support for a female presidential candidate contrasts with his comments about Clinton on Twitter in 2016, in which he said at the time: “Women should never be allowed to make foreign policy. It's not that they're 'weak.' On the contrary, their vindictiveness knows no bounds.”

In addition, he previously told Newsweek In a 2017 interview, he said: “I'm not particularly excited about the election in general. I think mass democracy is a bit of a joke, to be honest.” He added: “I don't necessarily think that's a great thing” when it comes to women voting in US elections.

When asked about his apparent change in attitude and his choice to potentially become the first female president of the United States, Spencer responded Newsweek, “Women are, on average, just as smart as men, if not smarter than men on average… I have full confidence in Harris and her administration as competent administrators. That was never really a problem.”

In his X-post on Friday announcing his support for Harris, Spencer wrote: “I will protect women…whether they like it or not!” The post is a reference to Trump's comments at a rally in Wisconsin on Wednesday, at the Trump mentioned that his advisers had advised him not to use the term “protector” because it was “inappropriate.”

Spencer, who lives in Whitefish, Montana, said in the video that he would “vote straight Democrats.” The state, which has a Republican governor, Greg Gianforte, and a Republican-controlled Legislature, has a partisan vote index of R+11, according to the Cook Political Report. Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is in a hotly contested race for the U.S. Senate seat, with most polls favoring Republican challenger Tim Sheehy.

He told Newsweek“Tester and Monica Tranel are just real centrists,” adding, “They're not crazy, woke liberals or anything, they're just perfectly reasonable people.” Tranel is running to represent Montana's 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Spencer said his main topic was Ukraine and continued support of the U.S. in its war against Russia.

Earlier this year, he responded to an attack on Harris by right-wing political commentator Tim Pool, who called Harris a “communazi despot” who had come to put conservatives in concert camps.

Spencer responded to Pool's X post, writing, “A little much?”