WASHINGTON -- Vice President Kamala Harris declared that her "values have not changed" on key issues such as climate change and immigration despite shifting policy stances, as she and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, sat for their first major television interview of their 2024 campaign Thursday.
Harris and Walz, who have faced criticism that they have avoided tough questions, spoke to CNN's Dana Bash as they took a bus tour through Georgia. In the sitdown, Harris defended herself on her changed stances on issues such as fracking compared with her first campaign for president in 2019.
Harris, who became the nominee in the aftermath of President Biden's decision in July not to seek re-election, faced questions on a wide range of issues, including domestic and foreign policy and Biden's decision to depart the race.
During her earlier campaign, Harris said she was in favor of banning fracking -- a stance backed by environmentalists -- but has since disavowed that position. She also has sought to strike a balance on immigration policy that would "create an earned pathway to citizenship and secure our border," as she said in last week's convention address, along with her vow to bring back the border-security bill that failed in the Senate and sign it into law. She had previously struck a softer tone on illegal migrant crossings.
"I have always believed, and I have worked on it, that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines," she said. "We did that with the Inflation Reduction Act," she said, referring to the 2022 climate law approved during the Biden administration. She also argued that she hasn't changed on "what we need to do to secure our border."
The interview came a week after Harris's Chicago convention and as polls have shown her in a competitive position against former President Donald Trump in more than a half-dozen battleground states.
Harris, who has said she would serve as president for "all Americans," said in the interview that she would appoint a Republican to her cabinet if she wins the White House. She didn't, however, offer particular names.
"I think it's important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my cabinet who was a Republican," Harris said.
Past presidents have appointed lawmakers of the opposing party to their cabinet: Republicans Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Ray LaHood of Illinois served in the Obama administration, while George W. Bush chose Norman Mineta, a California Democrat, to serve as his Transportation secretary.
Republicans have accused Harris of ducking reporters and said she was incapable of sitting for a solo interview. Trump said Thursday on his Truth Social platform that Walz shouldn't be "present to help with the inevitable Kamala stumbles."
New running mates have typically sat for interviews around their political conventions, including Trump and then running mate Mike Pence; Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan; and Barack Obama and Biden. Still, Harris hasn't sat for a solo interview since she became the Democratic Party's nominee and hasn't directly laid out extensive policy stances to the public and how they might differ from Biden's agenda.
The interview comes ahead of the Labor Day holiday, which marks the start of the fall presidential campaign. Harris will be in Michigan and Pennsylvania on Monday, while Trump will be in Pennsylvania on Friday.
Comments