Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley criticized members of her own party for attacking Vice President Kamala Harris on the basis of race, saying, "it's not helpful."
In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Haley said "there are so many issues" to hit Harris with that it's deleterious for Republicans to go after Harris because of what she "looks like."
"It's not helpful," Haley said. "It's not helpful. Look, I mean, we're talking about a liberal senator who literally has not accomplished very much and what she was given, she didn't do much with. You don't need to talk about what she looks like or what gender she is. The American people are smarter than that."
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., first labeled Harris a DEI hire by President Joe Biden in an interview with Newsmax on July 4, days before Biden would eventually drop out of the race. Burchett did it again this week after Biden exited the presidential race, later saying he regretted it but added it was "the truth" nonetheless.
Reps. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., and Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., also made references to Harris' race and ethnicity as the driving force behind her being vice president and now the Democratic presumptive nominee. Grothman said Democrats had to stick with Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent, "because of her ethnic background."
"Two attacks I've heard Republicans give that are totally stupid and dumb to do is the DEI attack, OK?" former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said earlier this week. "This DEI, that seems like a petty … look, I disagree with DEI, but she is the vice president of the United States, she is the former U.S. Senator."
The current speaker agreed.
"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."
Haley told CNN that the decision to elevate Harris to be the presumptive nominee gave Democrats "the weakest candidate they could put in." Only not because of her race and gender.
"There are so many issues we can talk about when it comes to Kamala Harris that it doesn't matter what she looks like," Haley said. "It matters what she said, what she's fought for and the lack of results that she's had because of it."