Republicans are planning to tie Vice President Kamala Harris to the Biden administration’s support for a proposed menthol cigarette ban in an effort to win over black voters in key battleground states ahead of the November election.
As Harris enjoys a boost in national polling, Republicans are plotting ways to whittle down support among certain voting groups by targeting unpopular policies proposed by the Biden administration. Chief among those is a proposed ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, a decision that has been repeatedly delayed by the Food and Drug Administration amid political pushback.
Although Harris has managed to reinvigorate the Democratic base since replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket, polling shared with the Washington Examiner suggests black voters may be less likely to support her candidacy if she advanced any sort of restrictions on menthol cigarettes.
Polling conducted by the Tyson Group shows Harris leading former President Donald Trump among black voters in Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, and Wisconsin. However, that support drops dramatically among those voter groups if Harris were to support a menthol ban.
It is not clear where Harris, who has switched her stance on a number of policies in recent weeks, stands on the issue as the Democratic nominee. The Washington Examiner contacted a spokesperson from the Harris campaign for comment.
The poll shows that support for Harris drops 23% among black voters in Michigan, 13% in North Carolina, 10% in Georgia, and 9% in Wisconsin when asked if they would be “more or less likely to vote for her” if her administration were to ban the cigarettes.
“Vice President Harris’s coronation completely reset this race because she was able to consolidate the Democrats’ most important constituency: black voters,” Ryan Tyson, CEO and president of the Tyson Group, told the Washington Examiner. “A way Republicans can combat Harris’s rise in the polls is to drive blacks away from her. Highlighting Harris’s support for a ban on menthol cigarettes could be the niche message that gets this done.”
That polling deficit is sure to be used by Republicans up and down the ballot, according to strategists.
One GOP strategist advising two Senate campaigns said the proposed menthol ban would be a “key issue” for Republicans to use to attack Harris as well as Senate and House Democrats. In fact, GOP campaigns “will be looking at spending on ads to make this an issue,” the strategist said.
“The menthol ban was a liability for Biden and now it is for Kamala, too,” another GOP Senate campaign manager told the Washington Examiner. “Our poll shows Kamala loses 23% of African Americans in Michigan over her support for the ban, and that’s more than the 2020 margin. And every vote that Kamala loses is a vote that [Rep. Elissa] Slotkin (D-MI), [Sen. Bob] Casey (D-PA), [Sen. Jacky] Rosen (D-NV), and [Sen. Sherrod] Brown (D-OH) lose too.”
Some groups have already poured money into targeting vulnerable Democrats on the issue. Building America’s Future and Americans for Consumer Protection announced it would spend $10 million to target black voters in battleground states over the proposed ban.
Other Senate aides say even if the issue does not cost Harris the White House, Republicans are expected to scrutinize her with “hearings and oversight” if they win control of the upper chamber.
“Not sure why they thought criminalizing a kind of cigarette popular with their base was a good idea,” a top GOP Senate aide said. “It’s a losing issue for Kamala.”
The FDA first floated a proposal to implement a ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars in spring 2021. However, the Biden administration has repeatedly delayed greenlighting the proposal due to pushback from certain voter groups — making it unclear when a final decision will be made.
Republicans have long pushed back against the proposed ban, with a handful of Democratic lawmakers also coming out in opposition as the FDA nears its decision.
Opponents of the ban have argued such restrictions would negatively affect the economy at a time when businesses are already dealing with rising costs and inflation. Cigarettes account for nearly 30% of all sales in convenience stores and over 10% of those stores’ gross margins, according to data from the National Association of Convenience Stores. Those numbers have contributed over $54 billion to the industry.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Meanwhile, civil rights activists, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, have come out against the ban, saying it would give police more reason to target black people, though the ban’s advocates point out that he has accepted donations from industry groups.
Gwen Carr, an activist and the mother of Eric Garner, says the ban is inconsistent and racially inequitable. About 81% of black adult smokers used menthol cigarettes in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, compared to 34% of white adult smokers.
Haisten Willis contributed to this story.
