Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he will vote for Vice President Kamala Harris – a rare endorsement from the state’s last Republican leader.

Schwarzenegger voiced his agreement on Harris.

“It’s probably no surprise that I hate politics more than ever, which as a normal person who isn’t addicted to that crap you probably understand,” he said. “I want to switch off. But I can’t.”

RELATED STORY | Historian Allan Lichtman supports Harris’ victory prediction

Schwarzenegger had not endorsed Republican Senator John McCain in a presidential election in 2008.

Although he was once a major figure in Republican politics, his support for Harris isn’t a huge surprise. He has been very outspoken against former President Donald Trump. Schwarzenegger condemned Trump’s efforts to negate the results of the 2020 election, calling him a “failed leader.”

In his note Wednesday, Schwarzenegger again cited Trump’s behavior that led to the Jan. 6 insurrection and explained why he would not support the former president.

“Rejecting the results of an election is as un-American as it gets,” he wrote. “For someone like me, who talks to people all over the world and still knows that America is the shining city on a hill, calling America a trash can for the world is so unpatriotic that it makes me angry. “

RELATED STORY | Harris distances himself from Biden’s ‘garbage’ comment: ‘I disagree’

“And I will always be an American before I am a Republican. That’s why I’m voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz this week.”

Both Harris and Schwarzenegger were prominent California politicians. While Schwarzenegger was governor, Harris was San Francisco’s district attorney. Harris then became the state’s attorney general on the same day Schwarzenegger left office.

Although Schwarzenegger has been critical of President Joe Biden, he said in 2020 he would be helpful to the then-president-elect.