WASHINGTON, DC — Vice President Kamala Harris’ move to roll back fracking policies is having an impact on other Democrats’ elections.
Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, a central figure in the most important (and most expensive) election in the United States this year outside the presidential election, was cornered by Fox News and, in an unusually awkward moment for the veteran senator, asked about Harris’ decision to withdraw her support for a nationwide ban on fracking.
“My focus is on my state and my job,” a flustered Brown tweeted on her way to the elevator. “I support VP Harris but… I don’t know what she said about fracking.”
Brown is known for his close relationship with President Joe Biden, whose current state of semi-retirement makes Brown’s chances of reelection even slimmer.
“Sherrod Brown is aligned with all of San Francisco liberal Kamala Harris’ radical policies, including a total ban on fracking,” Brown’s opponent, Republican business owner Bernie Moreno, told The Washington Post.
“Governors Brown and Harris would rather turn to our enemies for energy than use our own resources. Ohioans will reject their radical anti-energy policies in November,” he added.
Brown, who has repeatedly voted in favor of banning fracking, now must choose between changing course and joining Harris in helping win over voters in up-and-coming energy states like Pennsylvania and Ohio that rely on fracking, or sticking to his own widely supported beliefs.
“The bottom line is they’ve both supported banning fracking. Harris may try to backtrack now, but her position is well known,” Moreno’s spokesman added. “We know they both want to ban fracking, but Bernie will always support fracking.”
Moreno is not the only Republican strongman currently smelling blood.
“Kamala Harris wants to ban fracking and buy energy from dictators around the world. Donald Trump just wants to dig,” J.D. Vance, another senator from Ohio and Donald Trump’s running mate, said at a rally in Arizona today.
“Do we want to ban fracking?” he yelled at the crowd, who roared back with an enthusiastic “No!”
Polls show it’s been a tough week for Republicans as the nation adjusts to two tumultuous and impactful weeks of chaos.
Harris has nearly closed her wide gaps in battleground states and is trying to draw more white men into her camp, a demographic she may desperately need to win the November election.
Harris is trying to keep her approval ratings up, even if it means taking some of the strain on her credibility, by backing away from a pledge to ban fracking nationwide in 2020.
And Republicans seem happy to help her spread that message.
