Kamala Harris shoots down debate with Ron DeSantis in charged speech

Vice President Kamala Harris turned down Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his offer to debate his state’s new guidelines on how teachers will be allowed to instruct students about the African American experience in the U.S. in their latest bout over cultural issues. 

Harris was in Flordia speaking at the African Methodist Episcopal Women’s Missionary Convention in Orlando where she went off on Governor DeSantis, grouping him with what she called other “extremist so-called leaders” aiming to rewrite the “ugly parts of our history.”

The Vice President attacked Florida for its plans to teach students that those enslaved in the country’s early history benefitted from slavery. “They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us in an attempt to divide and distract our nation with unnecessary debates.”

“Well, I’m here in Florida,” Harris explained to an applauding crowd. “And I will tell you, there is no roundtable, no lecture, no invitation we will accept to debate an undeniable fact: There were no redeeming qualities of slavery.”

This comment was likely referencing a letter the Vice President received from DeSantis on August 1st, asking Harris to visit Florida so that the two could discuss Florida’s new education standards in the state aimed at changing the view of slavery in the country. 

“In Florida we are unafraid to have an open and honest dialogue about the issues. And you clearly have no trouble ducking down to Florida on short notice,” DeSantis wrote in a letter to the Vice President that was shared on Twitter by DeSantis’ Press Secretary. 

“So given your grave concern (which I must assume is sincere) about what you think our standards say, I am officially inviting you back down to Florida to discuss our African American History Standards,” the letter continued. 

DeSantis claimed Flordia was the number one state in the nation for education and also noted that despite this fact, D.C. politicians choose to malign his state and its residents, specifically accusing the Biden administration of spreading misinformation about the state's eduction standards. 

The Governor wrote that he was free to meet the Vice President on August 3rd based on the trip she already had planned to take to Florida for her speaking engagement in Orlando, adding they could have a “serious conversation” on an “important issue.”

Harris had already traveled to Florida once to give a speech criticizing the state and its leaders aimed at advancing the White House’s goal of restoring a true account of African American slavery in the country accoridng to Politico. 

During that trip, Harris derided state officials for passing Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, calling them extremists and saying they were trying to instill fear in teachers “that they should not live their full life and love who they love."

“And now, on top of all of that, they want to replace history with lies," Harris continued. "Middle school students… [will be] told that enslaved people benefited from slavery. High schoolers may be taught that victims of violence, of massacres were also perpetrators.”

Harris went on to say that leaders in Florida were insulting Americans in their attempt to gaslight them on the issue. “We will not have it,” Harris said. 

The series of incidents not only showed the deep political divisions unfolding all around the country but it spoke to the new role the Vice President has taken on for Biden ahead of the 2024 election. Harris has become the President's hammer to wield against the GOP. 

For years the Vice President has been maligned by bad headlines as she fumbled her way through politically losing issues. But Biden and his advisors have finally found the right role for Harris—attacking Republicans on their deeply unpopular social policies. 

CNN’s Edward-Issace Dovere wrote that Biden most likely sees his path to victory in 2024 in a coalition of Black voters, women, and younger people, all of which the Vice President is now uniquely able to tap into as she flies around the country speaking out on critical issues. 

“Her increased public presence—speaking out on issues such as race, reproductive rights, and guns—is part of a broader strategy overseen by Biden’s senior advisers," Dovere wrote, and that might be why Harris has been spending so much time in Florida.