In the days after President Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him in the 2024 presidential race, several Republican lawmakers suggested she had become the presumptive Democratic nominee on the basis of her gender and race.
Republicans referring to Harris as “DEI” hire
GOP Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee called Harris a “DEI vice president,” a reference to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming called Harris a “DEI hire” and referred to her as “intellectually, just really kind of the bottom of the barrel.” Rep. Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin said in an interview with CBS News affiliate WDJT, in Milwaukee, that “Democrats feel they have to stick with her because of her ethnic background.”
But at this point, Harris, the sitting vice president, has decades of experience in elective office and is a seasoned politician, winning statewide elections in California for the U.S. Senate and state attorney general. She won her first race, for San Francisco district attorney, 20 years ago, in 2004.
Other Republicans say “that’s not where we want to go”
Slamming Harris as a DEI candidate struck other Republicans, including former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, as “totally stupid and dumb,” he said Tuesday on NBC News’ podcast “Meet the Press NOW.”
Other Republicans, too, have been calling on party colleagues to tamp down the rhetoric. In an interview Thursday with CBS News, Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida said the comments about DEI from his colleagues had been “nipped in the bud” and that he had stressed to them “that’s not where we want to go.”
