“Stand on Every Corner” protest, St. Paul, MN

This year, several prominent Republicans have either left the Republican Party altogether, or at least have called for fellow Republicans to vote for Democratic candidates in this year’s midterm elections. In June, conservative columnist George Will called for Republicans to vote Democratic this November, primarily to punish Congressional Republicans for not exercising their constitutional powers to stand up to Donald Trump. At about the same time, longtime Republican strategist Steve Schmidt announced that he was leaving the GOP, citing the Trump administration’s cruel family separation policy. Schmidt was followed earlier this month by former U.S. Congressman David Jolly of Florida, who announced that he and his wife have left the GOP. And Republican pundit William Kristol heavily criticizes Donald Trump and seems to be implicitly cheerleading the Democrats in the upcoming elections, with tweets such as:

Republicans seem to have given Democrats the chance in the final three weeks to run against both increasing deficits caused by the existing GOP Congress and the prospect of Social Security and Medicare cuts by a future GOP Congress.

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) October 17, 2018

There are more examples of Republican defections to varying degrees. So the question is, can and should Democrats realistically call upon Republicans to vote for Democratic candidates, at least for their U.S. House Representative, in the midterm elections?