House Republicans leaders, including Speaker Mike Johnson, have asked their members not to make comments about Vice President Harris’s race after a number of GOP lawmakers referenced her identity in attacks on the likely Democratic presidential nominee.
Almost immediately after President Biden announced Sunday that he was endorsing Harris to replace him on the ticket, Republicans began their offensive, with some veering into attacks over the race and gender of the first Black and South Asian woman to serve as vice president.
In a closed-door conference meeting on Tuesday, House GOP leaders, including Johnson (La.) and Rep. Richard Hudson (N.C.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told Republicans to focus on Harris’s policy record and time in the administration rather than go after her identity, according to multiple people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss internal conversations. Politico first reported on the meeting.
Johnson later told reporters that the he thinks Republicans should make the election “about policies, not personalities.”
Following Harris’s emergence as a likely Biden replacement, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), in a post on X, called Harris a “DEI vice president” — referring to “diversity, equity and inclusion.” House Republicans have sought to counter such diversity initiatives in federal programs through the funding process.
Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), who defeated former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) in 2022, told a reporter that she thinks Harris is “a DEI hire.” And Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) told a CBS affiliate that Democrats chose Harris as the likely nominee “because of her ethnic background.”
In recent years, conservatives have targeted “DEI” programs — often used at workplaces to diversify the workforce — because they say they lead to minorities getting jobs over White candidates.
Other Republicans echoed Johnson’s admonition. In an interview with The Washington Post, Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) said members attacking Harris’s race “need to keep their mouths shut and just worry about their [district] race.”
“I think Vice President Harris and former president Trump is the match and let those two talk about each other,” he said.
Democrats, meanwhile, chided Republicans for attacking Harris’s identity.
“DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion. That means all of us, not some of us,” said Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. “So they’re trying to just make their attacks — some sad ones, too, that we’ve seen — but we’ll get past that, and she’ll get past that.”
“It’s a strategy that’s going to backfire,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) told CNN. “The majority of Americans — women — know what this feels like, to do everything you can to get your credentials, college education, advanced degrees, and, no matter what you do, people say you’re not enough. Or that you don’t belong in that room.”
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said that those calling Harris a “DEI candidate” forget that she has “more experience than Trump and J.D. Vance combined times a million.”
“She worked at the state level. She was the [California] attorney general. She’s vice president of the United States. She was a senator representing one of the largest states in the entire country,” he told CNN. “These are just racist dog whistles.”
On Wednesday, Burchett said that while he wishes he hadn’t made those comments about Harris, “it was the truth.”
“It’s not racist behavior,” he told SiriusXM. “That’s the furthest thing from my mind. I just want the best players put in.”