Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) on Wednesday acknowledged the historical significance of Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) being chosen by former Vice President Joe Biden to be his running mate this November, despite a stark difference in policy beliefs.
“I rarely agree with [Harris] on anything. I think she is wrong on about every Dadgum issue. But, it’s pretty cool that we live in a country where an immigrant couple can have a girl that can have a shot at being the most powerful person in the world,” Burchett tweeted.
Both of Harris’s parents were immigrants, and she is the first Black woman and first Asian American on a major party’s presidential ticket.
Biden’s rumored shortlist included several other women of color, including Reps. Val Demings (D-Fla.) and Karen Bass (D-Calif.), former national security adviser Susan Rice and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.).
In a statement, Biden cited Harris’s “record of accomplishment” in explaining why he chose her.
“There is no door Kamala won’t knock on, no stone she’ll leave unturned, if it means making life better — for the people,” Biden said. “She will wake up every day — like I will — thinking about how to make life better for people. How to rebuild our country back better. How to make it more just. How to win the next fight in the battle for the soul of this nation.”
The Trump campaign didn’t waste any time launching an opening salvo against the newly announced Democratic ticket. In an attack ad aimed at Harris, the Trump campaign labeled her “a phony.”
“Clearly, Phony Kamala will abandon her own morals, as well as try to bury her record as a prosecutor, in order to appease the anti-police extremists controlling the Democrat Party,” said Katrina Pierson, senior adviser to the Trump campaign.