SEATTLE — Washington state's GOP is facing backlash after calling Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, a "Diversity Equity and Inclusion hire."
In a post on X, the WA GOP account posted, "Antimeritocratic DEI is not building back better, it's setting us further back."
Washington GOP Chairman Jim Walsh said in a statement, "The main proponents of DEI...stated that they consider "meritocracy" to be a "racist" concept and antithetical to the doctrines of DEI ideology. DEI is, by definition, anti-meritocratic."
Two days after that July 22 post on X, the state's GOP account posted again, saying Harris, a "DEI hire, will say and do anything for power."
"Well, I'm glad that they believe she's going to be hired," State Rep. Jamila Taylor said in reaction. Taylor, who represents South King County, said it's ironic to hear about DEI hires in this context from the Washington State Republican Party.
"Their main candidate is Semi Bird, who is a Black gentleman, who's got a checkered past in terms of his leadership," Taylor said. "And is limited in his leadership, so what is it they support DEI in terms of unqualified people? Or do they really want to not see anyone who is overqualified?"
Some national Republicans have called for opponents of Harris to step away from mentioning race for negative messaging.
"This election is going to be about policy, not personalities," House Speaker Mike Johnson said. "This is not personal regarding Kamala Harris and her ethnicity, her gender, has nothing to do with this whatsoever."
So, how can calling someone a DEI hire, a diversity hire, or a quota hire be harmful?
We asked a DEI expert, Simone McNish.
"Calling someone a DEI hire is really harmful because it strips away all of that-- all the hard work, all the merit, all of the things that in terms of coming into power or coming into leadership that you have to have some skill to do so, you're not going to be able to get by on your skin color alone," McNish explained.
She added that Vice President Harris' race and gender coming into question is only something a woman of color would hear.
"You have to work twice as hard to get half as far," McNish said. "Automatically, if you're in a position of power and you are a woman of color, there are hurdles and leaps that you've had to jump through that it's very-- more than likely your white counterparts have not had to do."
So, is calling someone a DEI hire racist?
"Absolutely, yes," McNish said. "When you say that someone's only here because of their skin color when they're a Black or a brown person, it's automatically racist."