Vice President Kamala Harris has reportedly been the main target for Republicans hitting the campaign trail as they ramp up for the midterm elections.
Republicans have been attacking Harris, who has generally been left with a lower approval rating than President Joe Biden, even though Biden is still having trouble defining his achievements among voters. Recently, a pro-Biden super PAC released a memo saying voters are overwhelmingly clueless about any of his accomplishments.
However, Harris has been hammered by Republicans countless times and even Democrats on the administration’s handling of the border crisis.
She has even been criticized recently for insulting thousands of rural voters while Democrats spew false claims about the wave of voter integrity legislation that is taking shape across the country. Harris said that it is “almost impossible” for rural voters to “prove who they are” because it is difficult to access copy machines.
Keith Naughton, a veteran Republican strategist, told the Hill, that “Harris’s numbers aren’t as good as Biden’s. She hasn’t shown herself to be particularly adept on the trail in the public eye. … She just doesn’t seem to have very good instincts.”
“She’s a San Francisco Democrat,” he added. “She fits as a better target than Joe Biden does.”
The Hill noted that Harris’s involvement in “hot-button issues” like immigration and voting rights had made her a great target for Republicans while the midterms are quickly approaching. The Republicans are looking to take back the House and Senate majorities while the Democrats have a wafer-thin majority in both chambers.
While the vice president has been “working” on these issues, it has made it easier for Republicans to mark her as a radical. Republican Rep. Andy Barr (KY) took out a recent ad on Facebook saying, “Kamala Harris is supposed to be fixing the border crisis, but she’s only making things worse,” in addition to another ad saying Harris is “the most radical liberal politician in history.”
Jessica Taylor, a Republican and a business owner, launched a campaign for the Alabama U.S. Senate seat, saying she will “be Kamala’s worst nightmare.” Her announcement video only mentioned Biden’s name once.
“She’s still somewhat undefined, and her inexperience is definitely showing,” Naughton said when talking about Harris.
Aimee Allison, the founder of She the People, claims that Harris’s attacks are “more cultural than political.” Allison added, “This is another front in the Republicans’ culture war,”
“Instead of focusing on policy they’re using attacks on the vice president as a shorthand for a whole number of assumptions and statements that are red meat for their base,” Allison added.
New York-based Democrat strategist, Jon Reinish, said that Republicans “are grasping for any villain they can, and they’re trying to attack the administration, attack the Democratic Party by attacking the vice president.”
The strategist also noted that Harris’s gender and race could not be overlooked in the context of the Republican attacks. However, Republicans in this current campaign cycle so far have had more women announced a prospective run for House seats across the country than ever before.
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