Nearly 100 Republicans including several former governors endorse Biden

WASHINGTON - The number of former Republican lawmakers and officials endorsing Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden continues to grow as a new group representing almost 100 prominent Republicans including several former governors endorsed the former vice president on Thursday.

The group, called Republicans & Independents for Biden, is led by former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman who stated that its "sole mission is to defeat Donald Trump and elect Joe Biden the next President of the United States".

"More than 180,000 Americans are dead from a pandemic that, with consistent leadership, could have been contained. Instead, it has been left to spin out of control by a President who ignored it, refused to lead and endangered American lives," Whitman said in a statement.

"In this moment of great national crisis, we need to elect a leader matched to the moment, someone who can restore competence to the Oval Office and unify the country. Joe Biden is that leader," said Whitman.

The group also includes Republican former governor of Michigan Rick Snyder and Bill Weld, a former governor of Massachusetts and onetime 2020 Republican presidential candidate.

Snyder penned for USA Today on Thursday, blasting Trump as "a bully who lacks a moral compass" while praising Biden as someone who has "shown the desire to heal a deeply divided nation."

The group is planning to target GOP-leaning and independent voters in battleground states where Trump is within single digits of his Democratic rival in many cases, according to US media reports.