GOP senators fear ugly campaign after ‘uncomfortable’ Trump outburst on race

Many Republican senators are feeling “uncomfortable” and “embarrassed” by former President Trump’s suggestion that Vice President Kamala Harris isn’t really Black and only “happened” to adopt that identity out of political convenience.   

Trump’s bombshell comments Wednesday at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago immediately made national news headlines and put Republican lawmakers on the defensive.

Some Republicans tried to dodge questions about whether Trump had crossed the line by insisting he should instead focus on his policy differences with Harris while others declined to comment on the matter at all.

Many of them are uncomfortable over the direction Trump is taking the race and fear it could get a lot uglier before Election Day.

“They’re uncomfortable but they don’t want to say anything,” one Republican senator said of GOP colleagues who are hoping that Trump will stop talking about Harris’s race.

“They don’t say anything because they want to win the majority and they got to make sure the Trump supporters come out” to vote, the source added. “I’m worried about the silence of some of these statements by Republicans is going to be used against us as a party.”

“He’s going to continue to do it and the race will devolve into something that can be very nasty racially,” the senator warned. “Do we need to resurrect the summer of George Floyd?”

Trump during an interview before an audience of Black journalists questioned Harris’s racial identity.

“She was always of Indian heritage. And she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black. And now she wants to be known as Black,” Trump said.

“So I don’t know, is she Indian, or is she Black?” he added.

Senators didn’t talk about Trump’s comments at their Thursday lunch meeting but they were barraged by questions about them from reporters Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters at a press conference Thursday afternoon that one senior Republican colleague had privately confided his dismay over Trump’s comments.

“I think my Republican colleagues are embarrassed. I had one senior Republican colleague say to me this morning, ‘I guess now you’re going to win the election after we heard Trump last night.’ He said that,” Schumer said.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Thursday said Trump’s comments and the media uproar they’ve created were “beyond unfortunate.”

“I think most people would say, ‘Why is race the issue right now?’” she said.

“If you’re running for president or if you want to be CEO of a company, a campaign built on insults of an individual — we should be so far beyond that. It should not be about which nasty name you call somebody,” she added.

“It should be about the issues. I think the American people deserve more than what we’re seeing with this approach to a campaign. I just think it’s wrong,” she said.

Scott Jennings, who has advised Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) past campaigns, said Trump “did crap the bed” by mocking Harris’s racial heritage.

“The only question is whether he’s going to roll around in it or get up and change the sheets,” said Jennings, who is also a CNN contributor.

Other Republican senators voiced similar misgivings about Trump’s comments but were reluctant to criticize him explicitly.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who doesn’t plan to vote for Trump, said the Republican nominee and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), should stick to talking about their policy plans instead of opining about Harris’s racial heritage.

“I’ve already made clear that I’m not supporting him so I’m not going to get into daily commentary. Let me just say the Trump-Vance ticket would be far better advised to focus on issues like the border, the cost of living, the development of energy,” she said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told reporters Thursday morning that he didn’t think Trump’s comments about Harris’s race were appropriate.

“No, I don’t think so. I’ve known the vice president for a while. She’s always embraced her heritage proudly, as she should,” Graham said when asked whether Trump’s remarks. 

He tried to pivot back to the issues on which Republicans think they have the upper hand: national security and border security.

“My problem with Vice President Harris are the policy choices she’s made,” he said. “On policy, the world’s on fire and the country is in decline and I think we need new leadership. That will be my approach.”

When asked whether Trump should stay away from talking about race, Graham said “I think so.”

“I think the best way to win is to talk about things that are people’s minds: personal safety, financial security,” he said.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) called Trump’s comments about race a “distraction.”

“I think it shifts away from the discussion that I want to focus on. But it may very well be that we have a difference of opinions about what’s going to move the voters,” he said. “I for one think it’s the failure [of the Biden administration] on the economy, the failure on the border and the failure on national security.”

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said Trump’s comments were counterproductive.  

“I don’t think it was helpful,” he told reporters Wednesday.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), who endorsed Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), the Senate’s only Black Republican, in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, warned that arguing about race will “detract” from Republicans’ chances of regaining control of the White House and Senate.

“Anything that we do that’s not focused on policy detracts from our best opportunity to win back the White House, the Senate and the House. We’re going to stick to policy because we win on policy,” he said.

Asked if Trump’s comments would alienate swing voters, Rounds said “the bigger issue is it takes away from an opportunity to focus once again on what wins elections for us.”

“Most Americans understand that we’re a diverse society and we’ve accepted that,” he said. “Diversity is a part of what we are.”