President Joe Biden’s speech announcing he would “pass the torch” to a new generation of leaders and back Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic party’s new nominee has shaken up the presidential race.
Christian conservatives have since attacked Harris on numerous fronts. The American Family Association claims she’s a Marxist intent on ushering in a new world order and “basically having a trans society.”
While some have focused on her record, other Christian leaders have gone after her in highly personal terms, perhaps none more so than Sebastian Gorka, who hosts a talk show on Salem Media and has been a speaker at events hosted by Liberty University, the Family Research Council and the Heritage Foundation, the group behind Project 2025.
Gorka attacked Harris on gender and racial grounds, telling GBN, a right-wing British outlet, that Harris’ “only qualification is having a vagina and the right skin color.”
Here’s a look at other claims made by conservative Christians who oppose Harris:
Abortion advocate. Harris has long been a more outspoken advocate of abortion rights than Biden, who is Catholic, and her record gives abortion opponents plenty of ways to critique her on the issue.
“Harris is not just an advocate of legalized unrestricted induced abortion,” the anti-abortion group Live Action said, but also “a staunch opponent of both pregnancy help centers and pro-lifers.”
Live Action cited Harris’s support for California’s Reproductive FACT Act, which she promoted while serving as the state’s attorney general and as one of its two U.S. senators.
The law, which required Christian-run crisis pregnancy centers to inform the public they did not provide abortion services, was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2018.
The Daily Signal, founded by the Heritage Foundation, criticized Kamala Harris’ “high-pitched laugh, which many compared to that of a hyena.”
The Daily Signal, which was founded by the Heritage Foundation, criticized Harris’ “high-pitched laugh, which many compare to that of a hyena,” as well as her policies on abortion and immigration at the Southern border. The outlet also charged Harris with “targeting conservatives” and “demonizing conservatives in the Senate.”
Black, or not? In a tense interview at the National Association of Black Journalists conference, former President Donald Trump questioned Harris’ racial identity, saying: “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. So, I don’t know, is she Indian, or is she Black?”
She’s actually both at the same time: her mother was from India and her father from Jamaica.
The next day, Trump deployed Sen. Tim Scott and Rep. Byron Donalds, two Christians who are among his most loyal Black supporters, to clean up the mess.
“Childless cat ladies.” In a 2021 interview with Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, Trump’s vice presidential candidate JD Vance characterized Democrats as being led by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they’ve made.”
More recently, Vance said Harris has “no kids,” even though she’s a stepparent of two. He also said his comments were “not a criticism of people who don’t have children,” but rather a critique of the Democratic Party, which he called anti-family and anti-child.
Vance, who has received 100% endorsements from conservative Christian pro-family groups, also falsely claimed Harris is trying to end the child tax credit that provides tax relief to parents. She actually is a strong supporter of the tax credit and has sought to increase the benefit.
Senate Republicans voted recently to block a child tax package that previously passed in the House of Representatives. Vance was campaigning and did not vote. Pro-family advocate Josh Hawley was one of only two Republican Senators to support the bill.
The Family Research Council continued to sow confusion about the issue in a July 29 article with the misleading headline, “Harris campaign attacks child tax credit after J.D. Vance endorses it.”
The Washington Post reports Democrats are in fact less likely than Republicans to have children. “About 38 percent of Democrats had never had children as of 2022, compared with 26 percent of Republicans,” the Post reported. (The Post also said Democrats like cats more than Republicans.)
Culture warrior. The Family Research Council, which was founded by Focus on the Family, claims Harris “revives culture war against people of faith” in her recent speech to the American Federation of Teachers.
“We want to ban assault weapons, and they want to ban books,” she told the educators. But the Family Research Council and the American Family Association claim “Parents ‘see right through’ Harris’ hollow claim.”
“This charge about banning books rings so hollow,” Family Research Council’s Meg Kilgannon said. “We are not about banning books; we are about having children protected from inappropriate material in their school libraries.”
Kilgannon claimed public schools are “to the left of center, at best,” and teach kids to hate their country, their parents and themselves.
“DEI hire.” Christian conservatives oppose measures to increase diversity, equity and inclusion. Two U.S. representatives backed by the Family Research Council, Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, attacked Harris.
Burchett called Harris a “DEI vice president,” while Hageman called her “a DEI hire,” suggesting she lacks qualifications but reached office because of her race.
Burchett later appeared on the Family Research Council’s Washington Watch program, but host Jody Hice did not ask him about his DEI comments.
House Speaker Mike Johnson says the GOP’s focus should be “about policies, not personalities.”
Impeach her. In July, Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee introduced articles of impeachment against Harris, citing “her gross incompetence in dealing with the crisis at the Southern border and her betrayal of the American people.”
The Family Research Council, which has endorsed Ogles, applauded the impeachment effort in an interview that asked Ogles this loaded question: “The Democratic Party constantly labels President Trump and his supporters a ‘threat to democracy.’ But they just pressured the sitting U.S. president to retire his re-election campaign. And, as we noted, they’ve coalesced around Kamala Harris, a candidate who did not win a single primary. What can conservative voters — or really, any concerned Americans — do to stem or combat this kind of corruption?”
Donald Trump told believers Harris “doesn’t like Jewish people.” The claim was a surprise to her husband, Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish.
Anti-Jewish. During his July 26 speech to “The Believers’ Summit,” a Florida gathering sponsored by Turning Point USA, Trump told believers Harris “doesn’t like Jewish people.” The claim was a surprise to her husband, Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish.
Trump also said any Jewish American who votes for a Democrat is “an absolute fool,” and later appeared on a radio show that claimed Emhoff was “a crappy Jew.”
The American Jewish Committee said, “At a time when antisemitism is at record levels, the statement by the former president is divisive and potentially dangerous.” The Harris campaign said Trump’s comment “insulted the faith” of Jewish voters.
Conservative Christian groups often claim they represent “Judeo-Christian values,” but none of their articles cited here informed readers that Emhoff is Jewish. The groups have not commented publicly on Trump’s claim that Harris is anti-Jewish.
“Jezebel.” Christian nationalist Lance Wallnau, who is leading “The Courage Tour” to drum up votes for Trump in seven key swing states, said Harris represents “the spirit of Jezebel in a way that will be even more ominous than Hillary (Clinton) because she’ll bring a racial component, and she’s younger.”
Christian nationalist pastor Clay Nash told Christians in Boise, Idaho, he had a dream in which a Jezebel spirit “was shot right through the brain,” adding, “I believe we’re about to render Jezebel null and void.”
“Menace.” National Review senior writer Dan McLaughlin called Harris a “menace” on Washington Watch.
Related articles:
Get ready for the Kamala backlash
As Biden throws his support behind Kamala Harris, will the Black voting pattern change?
