DEI hire attacks on Kamala Harris create risks for GOP

Republicans are warning their colleagues to back off using diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) politics to attack Vice President Harris as she launches her presidential bid.

The GOP has had to quickly revamp its attacks in the days since President Biden withdrew from the 2024 race and Democrats coalesced around Harris as his replacement — and some members have taken swipes over her race and gender in arguing she is unqualified.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) called Harris a “DEI hire.” Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) similarly told local media that Democrats will elevate her to replace Biden as their nominee because they “feel they have to stick with her because of her ethnic background.”

Harris, who is of Jamaican and Indian descent, would mark a number of historic firsts if she ascended to the presidency. And DEI initiatives have become a punching bag for Republicans, who have spent the past year seeking to undo equity and diversity efforts across the federal government.

But the Republican Party this cycle has been aggressive in courting Black voters, and women are a key constituency, which means insinuating Harris was only elevated because of her race or gender risks backfiring.

Republican leaders are urging members to stick to policy arguments, not personal or demographic ones.

“This election … is going to be about policies, not personalities. This isn’t personal with regard to Kamala Harris,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in a press conference Tuesday. “Her ethnicity, her gender, has nothing to do with this whatsoever.”

Whitley Yates, director of diversity and engagement for the Indiana Republican Party, said Republicans should “absolutely” be concerned about labeling Harris as a DEI president. 

“These terrible detrimental things, it will drive people away,” Yates told The Hill, pointing to Trump’s efforts to reach Black voters.

In fact, Yates said, Republicans need to avoid identity politics all together if they want to build a more diverse coalition.

“I think we need to get completely off of race and gender, and they need to focus on what policies are [they] going to have,” Yates said. “We don’t have time to focus on those social issues.”

Other Republicans echoed the sentiment that the focus should be on policy, noting Harris was put in her job by the voters.

“I think rather than make allegations that, in fact, are allegations against the voters for what their motivation was, I just think we should run this campaign based on the fact that she’s not been very good at her job,” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) said.

That message may already be working.

Grothman, asked Tuesday about criticism over his comment, directed the conversation to Harris’s policies.

“She’s primarily known for open border,” he said.

Yet some Republicans are digging in. They point to Biden’s promise in 2020 to select a woman to be his running mate — and a few Republicans misremember Biden saying he would select a Black woman specifically for the role, a campaign promise he actually made about a future Supreme Court nominee.

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) pointed to a video she posted on the social playform X where Biden flaunted having the “most diverse administration in history that taps into the full talents of our country,” adding, “that starts at the top with the vice president.”

“Joe Biden called Kamala Harris a DEI hire,” Boebert said. “Remember when he used to, like, almost speak for himself? He said it then.”

Burchett also defended himself amid the criticism.

“Anytime you exclude one group over another, I feel like that’s discrimination,” Burchett said.

And he dismissed the argument that Harris received millions of votes as part of the Democratic ticket in 2020, saying “nobody votes for the vice president.”

Harris is not the only target of GOP attacks invoking DEI. In wake of the attempted assassination of former President Trump, Republicans have accused the Secret Service of having a DEI problem.

Burchett called Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle — who resigned Tuesday — a “DEI horror story” during a Monday hearing.

And he is not alone — in reacting to her resignation, Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas) said the assassination attempt was “the clearest example yet of D.C. elites’ DEI extremism.”

“An innocent man was murdered, a woman is now a widow, and two girls are fatherless because D.C. elites prioritized checking a box over selecting the most qualified candidate for a job that requires protecting human lives,” De La Cruz said in a statement Tuesday. “It is time to end this insanity and build a culture that rewards merit, upholds accountability, and celebrates excellence—regardless of race or gender.”

Democrats are pushing back hard on the comments.

Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) said in a press conference Tuesday that the DEI comments about Harris are “disgusting and offensive,” saying she is “the most prepared and qualified person” — noting to The Hill that Harris was also a prosecutor, a senator and California’s attorney general.

“They’re not only attacks on her,” Horsford said in a press conference. “When they have attacks on DEI, they’re attacks on you and I. We are a multiracial, multigenerational society — this is what Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans don’t want to accept. We’re not going back to the days that we’re not counted as full citizens.”

While several Republicans wary of the DEI attacks say the campaign messages should focus on policy and not demographics, they also have touted making inroads with minority voters as the 2024 election cycle heats up. Some in the party saw the inclusion of Amber Rose in the Republican National Convention last week as part of a larger effort to expand the party’s appeal and chip away at key Democratic voting blocs.

“Traditional Democrat voters, Black voters, Asian voters, Hispanic voters, I would argue now liberal Jews, they don’t just come to you in this country. … My grandfather’s Democrat Party has gone off the cliff on the left,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) argued last week. “They can’t support the social agenda. They can’t support the economic agenda.”

Aris Folley contributed.