Republicans tout ‘winning back’ Black voters, call out Michelle Obama during presidential debate

“[Vivek] Ramaswamy’s misogyny is showing — especially with his attacks on Black women and Nikki Haley,” political strategist Alencia Johnson told theGrio. 

A day after Republicans saw major losses in elections across the country, five 2024 GOP White House candidates took to the stage for the party’s third presidential debate. 

The two-hour event saw Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, U.S. Senator Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Chris Christie debate national and foreign policy issues, ranging from the economy and the U.S. border to the Israel-Hamas war and abortion. 

Though former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential field’s overwhelming frontrunner, again declined to debate his primary opponents, the remaining candidates competed for air time in an effort to break more ground in the race for America’s top job.

Ramaswamy calls out Haley and…Michelle Obama?

One candidate who likely stood out most was Ramaswamy; however, not because of his policy positions. 

The 38-year-old businessman called Haley a “Dick Cheney in three-inch heels” in reference to the former U.S. vice president, and slammed the former South Carolina governor’s daughter for using TikTok – to which Haley called him “scum” in return. 

He also evoked the name of former first lady Michelle Obama in his closing remarks. After suggesting that President Joe Biden is “not even the president of the United States” and a “puppet for the managerial class,” Ramaswamy called on Democrats to be “honest” about who they’re “actually going to put up” to run in 2024.

“Biden should step aside and end his candidacy now, so we can see whether it’s Newsom or Michelle Obama or whoever else…,” he said.

Ramaswamy also unexpectedly went on the attack with the debate’s moderator, NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker, while complaining about the event not being moderated by white conservatives like former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, conspiracy theorist Joe Rogan and Tesla and X owner, Elon Musk.

“I mean, Kristen, I’m gonna use this time because it’s actually about you…and the corrupt media establishment asking about the Trump-Russia collusion hoax that you pushed on this network for years,” he said. “Was that real, or was that Hillary Clinton made-up disinformation?”

Though Welker smiled and ignored Ramaswamy’s public ridicule on live television, many saw the exchange and Ramaswamy’s call-out of two Black women and his sole female opponent in the race as sexist. 

“Ramaswamy’s misogyny is showing — especially with his attacks on Black women and Nikki Haley,” political strategist Alencia Johnson told theGrio. 

Political scientist Christina M. Greer said Ramaswamy is modeling himself after Trump’s “bombastic” political style.

“The Trump style has always been to criticize women of color that sort of gets particular listeners’ ears at attention,” Greer told theGrio. “To just be so disrespectful to a Black woman who’s essentially sitting across from you, that’s something that Donald Trump would do.”

Referring to moderator Welker, the Moynihan Center Public Scholars fellow at CUNY continued, “You have this very accomplished, very poised, very intelligent woman who technically is in charge, and we know that Donald Trump cannot deal with women in charge.”

She said that while Ramaswamy may not look like Trump – “spray tan aside” – he is playing to Trump supporters in hopes of gaining traction with them. 

On bringing up Michelle Obama, Greer said it was “meat for the right-wing base,” adding, “because [Ramaswamy’s] poll numbers are slipping, for this debate, he had to do something to get people talking about him.”

Markus Batchelor, national political director at People For the American Way, called Ramaswamy a “proxy-Trump” running a “2015/16 anti-press, ‘fake news’ playbook.”

“It’s vile and dangerous, but it’ll get clicks, views, encouragement, and donations from the darkest, most hateful corners of the Republican base,” Batchelor told theGrio. “The fact that he’s remained center stage for three debates should be a clear sign to voters where the center continues to remain in this Republican Party.”

Scott suggests Republicans are ‘winning back’ Black voters

During the debate, Senator Scott, the sole Black candidate in the Republican primary, touted that the party was “winning back” Black and Hispanic voters because “we are working on a foundation based on faith.”

“Our nation is facing some deep challenges. It is a loss of faith in this nation that is part of the erosion that we’re seeing every single day,” said Scott.

The Republican senator’s mention of Black voters supporting the Republican Party appeared to be referring to a surprising poll from the New York Times and Siena College that found that 22% of Black voters in six key battleground states said they would support Trump in the 2024 presidential election. 

Greer said that while Black Southerners tend to “identify in a more religious way than Black Northerners,” there isn’t enough evidence to suggest the Republican Party’s emphasis on faith is gaining meaningful inroads with Black voters.

She explained, “The ideological diversity of Black people across the spectrum is by and large tracked in the Democratic Party because the Republican Party has chosen to cast their lot with white supremacists and white supremacy.”

Greer said Republicans “consistently lose out on Black Americans” because of their proximity to white supremacist ideology. She admitted there are “cracks in the foundation” of the Democratic Party’s relationship with Black voters but stressed that “Black women are the most Democratic” and “Black men are the second most Democratic” within the Democratic coalition of voters.

Batchelor of People For the American Way said recent polling is a reminder that “Democrats have work to do to organize and mobilize Black and brown communities in the lead-up to 2024.”

He told theGrio, “The stakes are too high, and the record is too clear for us to lose a single voter to the far right’s campaign of disinformation, suppression, and misdirection.”

Republicans doubled down after major losses in Nov. 7 elections

Despite sweeping losses during Tuesday night’s off-year elections, the Republican presidential candidates doubled down on their policy to ban abortion. 

Senator Scott called for a federal ban on abortion after 15 weeks. Haley said that while there wouldn’t be enough votes in the Senate to pass a federal ban on abortion, she would sign it if it were to come to her desk as president. 

Greer said what Republican White House hopefuls are missing is that for most Americans, “a woman’s right to choose is a pocketbook issue.”

“It’s not just women who are getting concerned. It’s women who have sons who are getting concerned,” she explained. “It’s men who are getting concerned, because if you say life starts at conception, then I’m coming at you with child support.”

Greer added, “Democrats are saying it’s an autonomy and moral and economic issue. And I think that’s why they keep winning.”

Johnson, the political strategist who has worked for the Obama and Biden presidential campaigns, said overall, the debate is a reminder that Republicans are “a party of losers –  especially since Trump took office.”

“And yet, they all are still taking a play out of Trump’s playbook on the issues that matter to the majority of Americans,” said Johnson. 

“While it’s more than likely none of them will beat Trump to clinch the nomination,” she added, “the backwards, dangerous culture they’ve infected this country with will continue to grow.” 

Gerren Keith Gaynor is a White House Correspondent and the Managing Editor of Politics at theGrio. He is based in Washington, D.C.

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