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Republican Senator repeatedly mispronounces Kamala Harris' name at Trump rally

WION Web Team
WorldUpdated: Oct 17, 2020, 02:23 PM IST
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US Senator David Perdue Photograph:(Reuters)

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David Perdue, who is in a closely fought battle for re-election to the senate against Democrat Jon Ossoff, spoke ahead of Trump in the central Georgia city of Macon on Friday evening

David Perdue, a Senator of the Republican Party repeatedly mispronounced Kamala Harris' name as he spoke ahead of US President Donald Trump in his rally in Georgia on Friday (local time). Perdue mispronounced Harris' name so many times that media reports lashed out at him for mocking Kamala Harris, who is  daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica. She is Democratic Party's nominee for the post of Vice President of USA. This makes her the first Black woman and first Asian American to join a major party`s presidential ticket. 

Perdue, who is in a closely fought battle for re-election to the senate against Democrat Jon Ossoff, spoke ahead of Trump in the central Georgia city of Macon on Friday evening.

Video of his speech shows Perdue repeatedly making exaggerated attempts to pronounce the name before saying, "I don`t know, whatever." The crowd responds with laughter.

Ossoff tweeted that Perdue would not have mocked a fellow senator who was male or white.

John Burke, a spokesman for Perdue`s campaign, tweeted that the senator "simply mispronounced Senator Harris` name, and he didn`t mean anything by it."

Republican incumbent Trump is trailing Biden in national opinion polls, but state polls show a close race in Georgia, a state that has become increasingly diverse and more Democratic.

(With Reuters inputs)