ANGIE MILES: Denver Riggleman stays busy helping his wife of 35 years with running their Nelson County distillery.

The former Virginia congressman says even though he hates running for political office, he's going to do it again.

DENVER RIGGLEMAN: The worst thing I ever did was run for Congress.

The best thing I ever did was serve in Congress.

And I don't want to ever go back to Congress.

And if I run, it will be for an executive position.

It will not be in the legislative body.

ANGIE MILES: Are you announcing that you're running for governor?

DENVER RIGGLEMAN: Well, not this term.

I will eventually.

I'll run.

People better watch out, because I'm going to be dragging an ax with me.

ANGIE MILES: Riggleman, a lifelong Republican who lost his bid for a second term in the 2020 primary process, has become an independent and a Never Trumper.

A vocal Never Trumper.

DENVER RIGGLEMAN: He really figured it out during The Apprentice on how to make money and how to pull the wool over people's eyes.

If you're selling gold watches and Trump medallion coins and NFTs, that's a freak show.

There's nobody who's ever been president or runs for president that should be selling themselves in that way.

A billionaire who's had multiple affairs paid off porn stars and Playboy bunnies is a known felon, found liable for sexual abuse, loves Putin, is a conspiracy theorist and helped J6 happen.

I'm out.

Because at this point you have cognitive dissonance on a level that I can't even break through.

ANGIE MILES: Riggleman has lots of company.

Hundreds of high profile Republicans, a who's who of recent Republican leaders, have not only disavowed Donald Trump, but have endorsed Kamala Harris and have attempted to sound an alarm about needing to vote for the Democratic ticket.

Earlier this year, former Virginia Congresswoman Barbara Comstock was a co-chair of the Nikki Haley campaign.

BARBARA COMSTOCK: He just doesn't stand for freedom.

He's only standing for himself, those dictators that he loves.

You know, we love freedom.

Republicans love freedom.

The Republican Party that I knew and worked for for 40 years.

And Olivia Troye, who also spoke at the Democratic National Convention, served as a counterterrorism adviser in the Trump White House.

OLIVIA TROYE: I saw how Donald Trump undermined our intelligence community, our military leaders, and ultimately, in the end, our democratic process.

He's still doing that today.

ANGIE MILES: Experienced in military intelligence and a former technical advisor on the January 6th committee, Denver Riggleman is right at home here.

DENVER RIGGLEMAN: You know, when I saw the text messages, when I saw all the emails, when I saw the data and the proof from the January 6th committee, it's hard as an American to see that anybody would support a president like this that not only incited the insurrection, but actually identified those people around him who would help it.

If you think about the money that was made on Stop the Steal, you're talking about over $250 million raised.

You start to get this feeling that there's not a lot of truth to Stop the Steal or any of this stuff.

Maybe it's just a moneymaking venture.

ANGIE MILES: Among audience members at this Harris campaign event was Reed Howard.

The Virginia Beach native says these leaders are welcome role models for young people like himself, who still believe in the values of the Republican Party, but who believe Donald Trump is aligned with none of those.

REED HOWARD: My generation of Republicans has had very few examples of what courage looks like.

And leaders like Barbara Comstock and Denver Riggleman, who are speaking up to put country over party, are showing us what character and courage look like in the public sphere.

ANGIE MILES: Howard has been actively recruiting other young Republicans to join the campaign for Harris, and he says this is actually for the good of the GOP.

REED HOWARD: The Republican Party can't get healthy until we defeat him resoundingly.

And that's why it's important for Republicans who care about our conservative values and principles to vote for Kamala Harris.

We've got to defeat Trump.

Then we can get back to the important work of putting together a positive vision for the country.

ANGIE MILES: And this is the very thing that Riggleman wants to impress upon independents and current members of his former party.

DENVER RIGGLEMAN: Kamala Harris is the best option for America.

She's sane, she's rational.

She's put out an economic plan that makes sense.

Her foreign policy chops.

It sounds like she's a conservative right now when it comes to her positions.

Those are the four big things.

The fifth thing she's not Donald Trump.

And I think that right there, those five things to me, it's cut and dried.