In a surprising attempt at self-policing, and fearful that they might lose the votes of key demographic groups, Republican leaders are warning party members to avoid using overtly racist and sexist attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris in the runup to Election Day.
AP reports that at a closed-door meeting of House Republicans on Tuesday, National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., urged lawmakers to stick to criticizing Harris for her role in Biden-Harris administration policies, rather than engaging in ad hominem attacks that denigrate her gender or her ethnicity.
“This election will be about policies and not personalities,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters after the meeting.
“This is not personal with regard to Kamala Harris,” he added, “and her ethnicity or her gender have nothing to do with this whatsoever.”
Some Republicans have been known to create controversy by engaging in racist remarks, and it is a widely held belief that the GOP stance against minorities is misogynistic and racist.
A recent altercation between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), who is Black, revolved around Greene’s dog whistle remarks on Crockett’s false eyelashes and her alleged incompetence.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pointed to the racial undertones of Greene’s remarks. “It is not lost on me that Ms. [Greene] targeted one of the only Black women on the committee for some of the most egregious and disgusting comments and with the expectation that it will be ignored,” she told reporters.
Hudson’s admonition is meant to curb a trend that is already emerging against Kamala Harris. “Intellectually, just really kind of the bottom of the barrel,” Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman said in a TV interview. “I think she was a DEI hire. And I think that that’s what we’re seeing, and I just don’t think that they have anybody else.”
Hudson’s warning is also implicitly aimed at Donald Trump, who, according to AP, “in particular, has a history of racist and misogynistic attacks that could turn off key groups of swing voters, including suburban women, as well as voters of color and younger people Trump’s campaign has been courting.”
Johnson said both Trump and Harris have records in White House policy that should be the basis of the rest of the campaign, “She is the co-owner, co-author, co-conspirator in all the policies that got us into the mess,” Johnson said.
Hudson too wishes to shape the narrative around Harris’ perceived “progressive policies”. Sen. Steve Daines, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, echoed Hudson’s criticism, calling Harris “too liberal.”
Alluding to Joe Biden, Daines said, “She’s not an Irish Catholic kid who grew up in Scranton. She’s a San Francisco liberal”.
Trump offered a similar argument in call with reporters Tuesday. “She’s the same as Biden but much more radical. She’s a radical left person and this country doesn’t want a radical left person to destroy it. She’s far more radical than he is,” he said.
Trump has a long history of attacking women not just on their political stances but on personal traits. From former Fox News host Megyn Kelly to his 2016 primary opponent Carly Fiorina, to New York Attorney General Letitia James, who successfully sued him and his business for fraud, he has criticized all of them for their appearance and ethnicity.
Stephanie Grisham, a 2016 campaign aide who served for a time as Trump’s White House press secretary, and has written extensively on the former president, said, “His go-to is to attack looks and to call women dumb. It’s his go-to and I don’t expect this to be any different.”
Rep. Maxine Waters of California, who is a prominent member of the Congressional Black Caucus and has a history of confrontations with Trump, told the AP, “The first thing I think about are the attacks that are going to come from the Trump, the MAGA right wing — that have already started.” She added, “They’re going to be nasty they’re going to be bad.” Hudson anticipates that such attacks might backfire and is trying to prevent them by issuing early warnings.
