During his military tenure, Colin Powell did not publicly identify as a member of a political party, but once he was a civilian, he announced his affiliation with the Republican Party. In fact, in 1996, Powell spoke at the Republican national convention, and four years later, he delivered the GOP’s keynote address.
But his approach toward electoral politics soon changed. In 2004, Powell did not attend his party’s convention, and in 2008, 2012, and 2016, Powell endorsed the Democratic presidential tickets, though he did not speak at any conventions.
Last night, Powell made his first major-party convention appearance in two decades, but it was at the other party’s national gathering.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered a heartfelt endorsement of Joe Biden during day two of the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, handing the former vice president another boost to his national security bona fides.
“Joe Biden will be a president we will all be proud to salute,” the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a video message. “With Joe Biden in the White House, you will never doubt that he will stand with our friends and stand up to our adversaries — never the other way around.”
In another not-so-subtle shot at Donald Trump, Powell added that Biden “will trust our diplomats and our intelligence community, not the flattery of dictators and despots. He will make it his job to know when anyone dares to threaten us. He will stand up to our adversaries with strength and experience.”
A day earlier, those watching the convention saw former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), just four years removed from his own GOP presidential campaign, standing at a literal crossroads and voicing support for the Democratic nominee. “I’m a lifelong Republican, but that attachment holds second place to my responsibility to my country,” Kasich said.
Viewers then saw a montage of Republicans also voicing their support for Biden. Among them were Christine Todd Whitman, another member of the Bush/Cheney cabinet, and former Rep. Susan Molinari (R-N.Y.), who delivered the keynote address at the Republican Party’s 1996 national convention.
Every cycle, there are usually a partisan apostate or two — Georgia’s Zell Miller, for example, delivered an unfortunate speech at the GOP convention in 2004 — but I’m not aware of national party gathering featuring quite so many voices from the other party as what we’ve seen this week at the Democratic convention.









