Democrats are finding a rare ally in their fight to remove the names of Confederate leaders from military assets:  republicans.

According to the New York Times, a number of republicans in both the House and the Senate are voicing support for Democratic measures in the respective military spending bills being considered by each chamber to remove the names of Confederate leaders from bases, equipment and other assets.

Any bill with a mandate to remove rebel names from military bases that reaches President Trump’s desk will face a likely veto, meaning that the Congress will have to vote to override the veto.

This is an unpopular issue for republicans to support in an election year, particularly with Trump’s coattails shortening in the midst of an economic crash and a pandemic.  More republicans are willing to oppose Trump if they feel he is not an asset in their reelection campaigns.

In a conversation with an unnamed White House aide, Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, a former Air Force brigadier general, told the aide, “You’re wrong — you need to change. We’re the party of Lincoln, the party of emancipation; we’re not the party of Jim Crow. We should be on the right side of this issue.”

Bacon is facing a strong challenger in the Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District.  It may be political beneficial to show his independence from Trump as the state sees a steady flow of new coronavirus case, ranchers and farmers recover from the sting of Trump’s trade war.

Some republicans are showing softer support for the move than Bacon, instead supporting a proposal for the military to study the renaming of these assets.

The military, however, have already taken steps to purge the ranks of Confederate memorabilia.  Last week, the Pentagon issued directives for types of flags that are allowed on military bases; the guideline passively ban the Confederate flag, but also could be overbroadly interpreted to ban some flags from sports teams.