New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu implored the GOP presidential ticket as well as down ballot campaigns to stop with the "character attacks and personal insults" of the Democrat presumptive nominee, saying the "path to victory" for Republicans in November's election will be connecting with independent voters on real issues.
In a guest column for The New York Times, Sununu said Republicans were hitting on winning issues when President Joe Biden was still the Democratic presidential nominee, but now "we seem to have lost our focus," he wrote.
To the point, Sununu said Republicans need to lay off the personal attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris, the soon-to-be Democratic nominee.
"Catchy one-liners — calling Vice President Harris a 'bum,' 'not a serious person' and 'bottom of the barrel' — might rile up the base, but they do little to connect with independent voters needed to close the deal in November," Sununu wrote.
Sununu's open letter to Republicans comes a day after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he didn't know Harris "was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black."
While Sununu didn't specifically address that, he said he's met "countless people" who are considering voting for Trump but "can't get past his personal attacks."
"They just want him to talk about solutions. It's these voters who matter the most in determining who leads this country forward. Republican strength in the polls has been a direct result of our focus on giving voters a reason to show up," Sununu wrote.
"When independent voters in battleground states — those who will determine the outcome of this election — turn on the TV they see too many members of my party lobbing personal attacks at Ms. Harris," Sununu wrote. "It's the worst kind of politics. It lowers the conversation and it plays into the Democrats' narrative that this election is about political revenge for Mr. Trump. And more important, it reaps no reward."
Sununu concluded, "With less than 100 days to go until Election Day, any time spent on personal attacks or distracting rhetoric is not just time wasted, it's time lost. Republicans must hold ourselves to a higher standard. It's what American people deserve, and it's good politics, too."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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