WASHINGTON — Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, argued that one of her challengers in the Democratic primary, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), had wrongly accused 2020 presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden of being a racist.
During the first Democratic presidential primary debate, Harris criticized Biden for his opposition to mandatory public school busing as a U.S. senator. On Wednesday, Harris said desegregation busing shouldn’t be federally mandated.
“I think of busing as being in the toolbox of what is available and what can be used for the goal of desegregating America’s schools,” Harris said in Iowa.
Harris was asked directly if busing should be mandated.
“I believe that any tool that is in the toolbox should be considered by a school district,” she said.
David Axelrod, former advisor to President Barack Obama, linked to an article containing Harris’ latest statement about busing and wrote, “It sounds here like @KamalaHarris is now taking something more like the @JoeBiden position on school busing. So what was that whole thing at the debate all about?”
Gabbard replied to Axelrod’s tweet, writing, “I agree with Axelrod. But let’s get real. It wasn’t a ‘whole thing’ — it was a false accusation that Joe Biden is a racist.”
Biden recently said that he “never, never, never, ever opposed voluntary busing.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member