Kamala Harris ‘got it wrong’ in ‘sad’ attack on Biden, former US senator says

close

Video

Kamala Harris confronts Joe Biden in tense exchange on race

Biden exhibits dismal performance during debate; political power panel reaction and analysis on 'The Ingraham Angle.'

The first African-American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate says Kamala Harris “got it wrong” when she criticized Joe Biden over racial issues during a Democratic debate last week.

Carol Moseley Braun, who represented Illinois in the Senate for one term, from 1993 to 1999, said it was “sad” that Harris, a U.S. senator from California, chose to attack Biden, the former vice president and U.S. senator from Delaware.

“We can be proud of her nonetheless, but her ambition got it wrong about Joe,” Moseley Braun said, according to Politico. “He is about the best there is. For her to take that tack is sad.”

HARRIS CAPITALIZES ON DEBATE PERFORMANCE, AS BIDEN DEFENDS RECORD ON RACE

“We can be proud of her nonetheless, but her ambition got it wrong about Joe. He is about the best there is. For her to take that tack is sad.”

— Carol Moseley Braun, former U.S. senator

During last Thursday’s debate in Miami, Harris blasted Biden’s decades-ago work with segregationist senators, making the point personal by explaining she was a member of only the second class of black children in California to be bused to school in an effort to force desegregation.

Former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun. (Associated Press)

“That little girl was me,” Harris told the former vice president.

The confrontation was viewed as a key moment for Harris, whom some claimed had “won” the debate among 10 candidates. Harris’s campaign said it raised more than $2 million in the 24 hours immediately after the debate.

Some of the money came from sales of $30 T-shirts with a photo of Harris as a child and the quote from the debate.

Biden, meanwhile, got involved in another race-related controversy the next day, when he made a remark in Chicago.

“That kid wearing a hoodie may very well be the next poet laureate and not a gangbanger," Biden said during a speech at the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a group of nonprofits organized by the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The comment drew backlash from Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and others, who took issue with Biden’s choice of words.

Moseley Braun, meanwhile, continues to stand by Biden, Politico reported. The 71-year-old Chicago native had previously endorsed Biden for president, the report said.

Fox News’ Brie Stimson and Danielle Wallace contributed to this story.