Democrats are seizing on Republican Sen. David Perdue’s comments at a recent rally in which he made a spectacle of struggling to pronounce the name of Sen. Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, with critics accusing Georgia’s senior senator of mocking her and being out of touch with the rapidly diversifying state.
Blowback to Perdue’s comments has provided a late boost to Perdue’s Democratic challenger, Jon Ossoff, as he seeks to score an upset by winning one of Georgia’s two Republican-held U.S. Senate seats on the ballot this fall. A spokesman for Ossoff said his campaign raised $1.8 million in 48 hours following Perdue’s remarks.
Warming up the crowd Friday for President Donald Trump at a rally in Macon, Perdue brought up Harris and repeatedly mispronounced her name. “KAH’-mah-lah? Kah-MAH’-lah? Kamala-mala-mala? I don’t know. Whatever,” Perdue said, as members of the audience laughed.
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