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Democratic female lawmakers of color have revealed they are worried about Vice President Kamala Harris facing racist and misogynistic attacks after she all but became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
President Joe Biden endorsed Harris to be the Democratic nominee for president after he announced that he was stepping down from the race on Sunday.
Since then, Harris has received overwhelming support from nearly every faction of the Democratic Party and appears to have clinched enough delegates to become the presumptive party nominee.
But some Democrats fear that she will be subjected to racist and sexist attacks given she would be the first Black and Indian woman to become the presidential nominee of a major party.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who previously revealed her fears that the same forces that wanted to muscle out Biden would also push out Harris, said that Democrats and the electorate should be aware in general about such attacks.
“As a an elected official, who is a prominent woman of color, I've seen a lot,” she told The Independent.
“And I know that the vice president has seen a lot and so it's going to be very important that I think we brace ourselves for some of the unfair misogynistic, and racial undertones, overtones, explicit attacks on implicit attacks that she may be subjected to, and it's important for us to keep our eyes open for what is fair, but also what is unfair.”
Representative Nikema Williams of Georgia, like Harris, is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, one of the historically Black “Divine Nine” Greek-letter organizations.
“I'm a black woman serving in this body of Congress and so we all know what comes with this work,” Williams, who is also the chairwoman of the Georgia Democratic Party, told The Independent.
“And we are very public facing but what we know is we have to continue to do the work and we have to be prepared on day one, which she already is my grandma taught me if you stay ready, you'll be ready.”
Republicans for their part have brushed off accusastions they might be racist or sexist.
During a rally in Middletown, Ohio, on Monday, Senator JD Vance, former president Donald Trump’s running mate, brushed off accusations of racism.
“It is the weirdest thing, Democrats believe it is racist to believe – well, they say it’s racist to do anything,” he said. “I had a Diet Mountain Dew today and one yesterday, I’m sure they’re going to call that racist.”
Later that day, Vance went further on the attack invoking the idea of Black people requiring government assistance.
“What the hell have you done other than collect a government check for the past 20 years,” he said when campaigning in Virginia.
Harris in the past has been subject to racist attacks, such as when she was accused of being ineligible for the presidency because her parents were both immigrants – a false narrative pushed by former Trump lawyer John Eastman in 2020 after Biden selected Harris as his running mate.
Meanwhile, others have scrutinized her dating life, including her brief time dating Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco.
Indeed, Representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee invoked the term “diversity, equity and inclusion” when speaking about Harris in an interview with CNN.
“When you go down that route, you take mediocrity, and that’s what they have now as a vice president,” he said. “100 per cent. She was a DEI hire.”
Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford of Nevada told The Independent that Democrats needed to be prepared for racist attacks against Harris.
“The representative from Tennessee some some very disparaging comments earlier today,” he said. “That's the type of divisive, discriminatory racist rhetoric that needs to end there are people who want to divide our country, while vice president Harris and Democrats are focused on bringing us together.”
Harris has pledged she will continue to unite the Democratic Party after Biden’s decision to not run for re-election amid questions about his capabilities following his disastrous debate performance last month.
On Tuesday, she will travel to Milwaukee for her first official campaign stop as a 2024 presidential candidate.
