Florida lawmaker says calling Kamala Harris a 'DEI hire' is like using the 'N word, racial slur'

Florida Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost said on Tuesday that calling Vice President Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, a "DEI hire" was like using a "racial slur."

"DEI" is an acronym for diversity, equity and inclusion. 

"This is a right-wing campaign that’s going to be racist [and] misogynist against the vice president. But we‘re going to stand on the issues and what really matters is the fact that she is qualified," Frost told anchor Jim Acosta on "CNN Newsroom."

"They want to call her a DEI president – a DEI candidate. She has more experience than Trump and J.S. Vance combined times a million, right? She worked at the state level. She was the attorney general," he added.

Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., told CNN's Jim Acosta that calling Vice President Harris a "DEI hire" was equivalent to "the ‘N word." (Screenshot/CNN)

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Frost added that any "DEI" comments about Harris are "racist dog whistles."

"She’s Vice President of the United States. She was a senator representing one of the largest states in the entire country. And so these are just racist dog whistles whenever you hear DEI, I want you to think about the ‘N word, and we need to think about racial slurs. That‘s what they actually mean," Frost said.

Frost’s comments came after Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett on Monday called Harris a "DEI hire" in an interview with CNN. Rep. Burchett suggested that Harris was selected as vice president solely because she was a Black woman.

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"One hundred percent she is a DEI hire," Burchett told CNN’s Manu Raju. He continued, "Her record is abysmal at best."

Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green also slammed Harris for being chosen as Biden’s running mate solely due to her racial identity. 

"She wasn't chosen because she was truly highly ranked amongst Democratic voters throughout the country. She was chosen for a reason. And it seems to be that her, unfortunately, her gender and maybe her skin color was part of that," Greene told Fox News Digital.

Rep. Maxwell Frost slammed Republicans for calling Vice President Harris a "DEI hire." (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) (Tom Williams)

While some are calling Harris a "DEI hire," other GOP officials believe it is best for Republican nominee and former President Trump to campaign against Harris in other ways, such as her lackluster 2020 Democratic primary campaign and her crime record in California.

Less than 36 hours after President Biden ended his re-election campaign and endorsed Harris to succeed him as the Democratic Party's presidential nominee, Harris announced that she'd locked up the nomination.

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"I am proud to have earned the support needed to become our party’s nominee," the vice president wrote in a social media post just after midnight early Tuesday morning.

Harris showcased that she'd won commitments of backing from a majority of the nearly 4,000 delegates to next month's Democratic National Convention, which kicks off Aug. 19 in Chicago.

Harris' clinching of the nomination will likely become official within the next two weeks, as the Democratic National Committee moves forward with a virtual presidential nomination roll call of the delegates. 

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. (Getty Images)

Rep. Frost's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Joshua Q. Nelson is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

Joshua focuses on politics, education policy ranging from the local to the federal level, and the parental uprising in education.

Joining Fox News Digital in 2019, he previously graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Political Science and is an alum of the National Journalism Center and the Heritage Foundation's Young Leaders Program. 

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