How the House GOP campaign arm is pivoting to target Harris: Border, fracking and protests

By Annie Grayer, CNN

(CNN) — The House Republican campaign arm is developing a targeted plan of attack to pin specific pieces of Vice President Kamala Harris’ record against Democrats running in competitive House races as Harris marches toward the Democratic nomination.

The framing of GOP attacks on down-ballot Democrats are starting to take shape even though Harris is still not officially the Democratic presidential nominee, as the GOP campaign arm looks to quickly adjust their message and maintain their goal of keeping control of the House. The plan, which is still evolving, is to continue to tie Harris to what they see as failed policies of the Biden administration while also resurfacing some of her positions from her 2019 presidential run.

“It’s the Harris-Biden ticket,” GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas told CNN. “His failures are her failures.”

But that doesn’t mean GOP lawmakers are necessarily going to stay on message. GOP Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee referred to Harris as a “DEI hire,” as she is on the path to becoming the first woman of color nominated for president by a major party, which many of his colleagues echoed.

Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steve Horsford said that Burchett’s remarks were “inappropriate, offensive, and really disgusting.”

Behind closed doors, House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday also addressed the attacks some Republicans have made on the vice president’s race and implored the conference to stay on message.

“Listen, this election, as I noted at the outset, is going to be about policies, not personalities,” Johnson said. “This is not personal. With regard to Kamala Harris and her ethnicity, or her gender have nothing to do with this whatsoever.”

Republican Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida also appealed to the House GOP to keep focus on Harris’ policies, according to an attendee, a sign of how many Republicans are uneasy about the attacks over her race.

The National Republican Congressional Committee also put out a separate memo to candidates encouraging members to be specific in their messaging.

“DO NOT: Waste time talking about anything other than what Harris WOULD DO as President,” the memo reads.

The memo also acknowledges the challenges of Republicans having to quickly change their message to address Harris when they had built their whole strategy around attacking President Joe Biden for his age and his family’s foreign business dealings, on top of his policies.

“Republicans have never had less time to define the presidential nominee of our opponents,” the memo stated. “Because of that, it is vital that our entire Conference is on message and working together to present Kamala Harris as an extreme San Francisco progressive who is out of step with the American people.”

As GOP lawmakers may struggle with their message, the GOP campaign arm has been trying out specific targets.

In key swing districts in Arizona and New Mexico, the GOP campaign arm plans to hammer home Harris’ efforts to tackle root causes of migration from Central America as Republicans look to make border crossings and mass migrations a top campaign issue. Republicans have long dubbed Harris the “border czar,” and one GOP strategist said to expect Republicans to tie down-ballot Democrats to that title even more.

“The unique problem with picking her is she can’t run away from any of that,” GOP Rep. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota told CNN.

The White House has rejected the “border czar” title, arguing that her focus was on long-term fixes. In a key vote in February, Senate Republicans blocked a major bipartisan border deal and foreign aid package with assistance for Ukraine and Israel amid a torrent of attacks on the bill by former President Donald Trump and top House Republicans.

Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar on Tuesday called efforts by House Republicans to paint Harris as a “border czar” during the Biden administration “laughable and unserious.”

“Let’s be very clear, there was no ‘border czar.’ Kamala Harris’ role was to engage in multilateral discussion with our Latin American countries,” the House Democratic Caucus chair told reporters.

Beyond her assignment on the border from the White House, Republicans have also resurfaced the moment from a Democratic presidential primary debate in 2019 where Harris raised her hand when candidates were asked if they were in favor of decriminalizing illegal border crossing, and sent out a clip of her appearance on “The View” shortly after where she tried to clean up her position but appeared to further contradict herself.

After the Democrat running in southern Arizona endorsed Harris, the NRCC released a statement calling Harris the border czar with a link to a portion of Harris’ 2019 interview with “The View.”

Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement to CNN, “Vice President Kamala Harris has held criminals accountable her entire career – and Donald Trump will be no different. Vice President Harris has dedicated her career to making life better for working people – while Trump only cares about himself. That’s the contrast the American people will see over the next 106 days.”

In Pennsylvania, the GOP campaign arm is focusing on Harris’ previous statements as a presidential candidate in 2019 about banning fracking. The campaign group has been publicizing comments Harris made during a CNN town hall in 2019 in the districts of Democratic Reps. Matt Cartwright and Susan Wild specifically.

And in states like Minnesota and Oregon, the NRCC is framing Harris as soft on crime, by tying Democrats in those districts to a 2020 tweet where she solicited money for a charitable bail group in the wake of the May 2020 police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis that led to protests across the country.

Both Biden and Harris have condemned the riots and violence that occurred on multiple occasions and have expressed support for peaceful protest.

The NRCC is already working on developing flushed out ads, but their initial attacks on vulnerable House Democrats provide a window into the strategy that is developing behind the scenes at a rapid clip.

“The thing about this race is that both Harris and Trump have held office,” Johnson, the House speaker, told CNN. “They’ve been these two competing administrations that you can, you can sit side by side, and people are asking themselves, ‘How was I doing during the Trump administration, and how am I doing now?’”

“And I think the answer is clear for a lot of people, and I think that’s why we’re gonna have a good November and I really like our chances with her at the top particularly,” Johnson added.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Manu Raju contributed to this report.

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