Georgia GOP Sen. David Purdue Mocks Pronunciation Of Kamala Harris’ Name

Republican Sen. David Purdue mocked Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris by repeatedly mispronouncing her name at a Georgia rally for President Donald Trump on Friday. Despite having served with Harris in the U.S. Senate since 2017 and working together as members of the Senate Budget Committee, in this moment, Purdue could not decide whether his colleague’s name was “KAH’-mah-lah? Kah-MAH’-lah? Kamala-mala-mala? I don’t know. Whatever.” His campaign spokesperson John Burke said that the current Georgia senator “simply mispronounced Senator Harris’ name and he didn’t mean anything by it.”

However, many individuals did not buy Burke’s claim and strongly criticized Purdue for his remarks. Purdue’s opponent, Jon Ossoff, took to Twitter to condemn his rival, explaining that, “Senator Perdue never would have done this to a male colleague. Or a white colleague. And everyone knows it.”

Harris’ press secretary, Sabrina Singh, also responded to Perdue’s remark in a tweet: “I’ll keep it simple: If you can pronounce “former Senator David Perdue” you can pronounce “future Vice President Kamala Harris.”

And Nikema Williams, who chairs the Democratic Party of Georgia, said Perdue owes voters an apology.

This is not the first occurrence of Harris’ political opponents mispronouncing her name. President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have repeatedly done so, a trend many say demonstrates racism.