Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden Tuesday, writing in an op-ed for NBC News that "a vote for Joe Biden is what is best for our country — because America matters."

Steele served as the RNC chairman for one term, from 2009-2011 (while Biden served as Vice President), before losing his bid for re-election to Reince Priebus, who later became President Trump's first White House Chief of Staff.

Steele was the first African American to serve in the role. Prior to that, Steele was the Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, from 2003-2007, the first African American elected to a statewide office in Maryland.

Steele wrote about how his upbringing shaped his political leanings in the op-ed: "As a teenager growing up in a monolithically Democratic community, I recognized that the values articulated by President Ronald Reagan echoed those of my mother — a sharecropper’s daughter who worked in a laundry. I was, and am, convinced that conservative principles, individual initiative, and free enterprise are the most effective means of empowering people to achieve the American Dream."

"As an adult, I worked to advance those principles," he added, mentioning his history as the Republican party chair in Prince George's County, Maryland, before ascending to chair the state's party, and eventually the national party "after two of the most devastating election cycles in GOP history."

"An opportunist, I am not," he wrote. "Yet, I cannot support the nominee of my party."

"So here we are, faced with the reelection of President Donald Trump and the prospect of a nation still struggling against Covid-19, reeling from the ravages of a flattened economy and in pain from civil unrest and our genuine concern for how we treat one another," Steele wrote, before slamming the president's policy positions.

"Rather than binding up the nation’s wounds, Trump exacerbates division," Steele wrote. "Rather than standing up to the world’s dictators, Trump cravenly seeks the favor of thugs. Rather than fostering free enterprise, Trump embraces economic principles not only outdated in Lincoln’s time, but made even worse today by a leader who lost close to a billion dollars in a single year running a casino. Rather than seeking to build on the legacy of the Republican Party’s founders, of which Trump is surely ignorant, Trump has posited a single purpose for the GOP — the celebration of him."

Steele wrote that although he "sometimes vigorously" disagrees with Biden on policy, "this election is not about those issues or policies."

"Rather, it is about the course of a nation and the character of her people reflected in the leader they choose," he added. "I am asking my fellow Americans to consider what is in your best interests, and not Donald Trump’s."

Steele joined the Lincoln Project, the group of anti-Trump Republicans attempting to block the president's re-election effort, in August. Tuesday, the Lincoln Project released a video detailing his endorsement of Biden.

Holding what appears to be a mail-in ballot in the video, Steele called himself "a lifelong Republican – and I'm still a Republican," before adding that "this ballot is how we restore the soul of our nation – electing a good man, Joe Biden, and a trailblazer, Kamala Harris – and ensure an orderly transfer of power."

"Although Vice President Biden and I disagree on some policy points, I believe he will earnestly pursue options that work towards healing the divide exacerbated by Trump and his administration," Steele said in a statement issued by the Lincoln Project. "My support for Biden is because we share an everlasting loyalty to what is ultimately best for our nation."