Rivals Defend Kamala Harris Against Online Attacks They Compare to ‘Birtherism’

A number of hopefuls for the Democratic nomination for president found common ground Saturday as they defended rival Sen. Kamala Harris against online allegations that she is not an “American Black,” NBC News reports. 

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who clashed with Harris at Thursday’s Democratic debate in Miami after she criticized his position five decades ago against school busing, said the social media attacks against the senator from California were clear echoes of “birtherism.” “Birtherism,” promoted by some Republicans, including Donald Trump before he assumed the presidency, was a movement that denied former President Barack Obama was a natural-born U.S. citizen.

Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, also compared the online attacks, which claim Harris is not a black American because her father is Jamaican, to “birtherism.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., tweeted, “The attacks against @KamalaHarris are racist and ugly. We all have an obligation to speak out and say so.”

Other presidential hopefuls who came to Harris’ defense included Bernie Sanders, who called Donald Trump Jr. a racist for retweeting a claim that Harris is not a black American; South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who called the attacks racist and “birther-style;” Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who said, “The Trump family is peddling birtherism again;” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; and former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas.

Harris’ campaign also compared the allegations to “birtherism.”