Democratic presidential candidate and US Vice President Kamala Harris reacts in front of a campaign bus at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport in Savannah, Georgia, US, on August 29, 2024. | Photo credit: Reuters
Vice President Kamala Harris “My values haven’t changed,” he said on Thursday (August 29, 2024) when asked With his running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim WalzIn the first major television interview of his presidential campaign.
Interview CNN The Dana bash gives Ms Harris a chance to quell criticism that she has avoided an unruly environment, while also giving her a new platform to define her campaign and test her political mettle ahead of a debate with former President Donald Trump on September 10. But it also carries risks as her team tries to build momentum from Joe Biden’s exit and the ticket reshuffle following last week’s Democratic National Convention.
full CNN The interview is set to air at 9 p.m. EDT. It was recorded at 1:45 p.m. at Kim’s Café, a local Black-owned restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, and excerpts were released on Thursday (August 29, 2024) afternoon.
Ms Harris was asked about changes in her policies over the past few years, particularly her decision to decriminalise fracking and illegal border crossings.
“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy approaches and decisions is that my values haven’t changed,” Harris responded.
Ms Harris also dismissed Mr Trump’s questioning of her racial identity, when the former president said she “happened to be black by chance”. Ms Harris, who is of black and South Asian descent, said it was the “same old, worn-out tactic”.
She also said she would name a Republican to join her Cabinet if elected, though she did not have a name in mind.
Joint interviews are a common practice in politics during an election year; Mr Biden and Ms Harris, Mr Trump and Mike Pence, Barack Obama and Mr Biden – all did these interviews at the same time in the race. The difference is that all the other candidates also did solo interviews. Harris has yet to do any in-depth interviews since becoming her party’s flagbearer five weeks ago, although she did several when she was Biden’s running mate.
Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz Unlike Mr Trump and Mr Biden, who have almost universal awareness and opinions, he is still introducing himself to voters.
They were in the midst of a two-day bus tour in southeastern Georgia that culminated with an evening rally in Savannah. Harris campaign officials believe that to win the state over Trump in November, they must make inroads in GOP strongholds across the state.
Democrats’ enthusiasm about voting in November has increased over the past few months, according to a Gallup poll. About 8 in 10 Democrats say they are more excited than usual about voting, up from 55% in March.
That gives them a level of enthusiasm they didn’t have earlier this year. Republican enthusiasm has risen much less over the same period, and about two-thirds of Republicans now say they are more enthusiastic than usual about voting.
But in a packed arena on Thursday, Ms. Harris described her nascent campaign as a weak candidate and encouraged the crowd to work hard to elect her in November.
“We are here to tell the truth and we know this is going to be a tough race until the end,” he said.
Harris laid out a list of Democratic concerns: that Trump would further restrict women’s rights, since he has appointed three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who helped overturn Roe, that he would repeal the Affordable Care Act, and that, given the new immunity powers granted to presidents by the U.S. Supreme Court, “imagine Donald Trump without any safety guardrails.”
His rally was briefly disrupted by protesters opposing US involvement in the Israel–Hamas war.
During her tenure as vice president, Ms. Harris has done on-camera and print interviews with The Associated Press and numerous other outlets, much more frequent than the president — except for Biden’s late-stage media blitz that followed his disastrous debate performance, which spelled the end of his campaign.
Ms Harris’ lack of access to the media has become one of Republicans’ key attack lines over the past month. The Trump campaign has accounted for the days she spent without interviews as a candidate and suggested she needed a “babysitter” and that’s why Walz would be there.
“Dana Bash of CNN has a chance to be great today. If she gives Comrade Kamala Harris a fair but tough interview, she will expose her as totally unfit and unfit for the Presidency, just like I exposed Crooked Joe Biden during our now famous debate,” Trump posted online Thursday. “How great would that be for Dana and CNN???”
Mr Trump has largely resorted to conservative media outlets when giving interviews, though he has held more open press conferences in recent weeks as he seeks to recapture the spotlight he gained from Harris’s promotion.
After CNN After the interview, Mr. Walz left to attend other political events outside the state and Harris remained in Georgia, stopping at Dottie’s Market in Savannah on Thursday, chatting with the owner’s mother while a crowd watched from the street, where she told voters she was going to introduce “basically a tax credit for startups, for small businesses that are starting out.”
“Investing in and growing small businesses is one of my only priorities,” he said.
They also met with volunteers. On Wednesday, Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz spent time with a high school marching band, to the delight of students, and stopped at a Savannah barbecue restaurant.
The campaign wants the events to inspire voters in Republican-dominated areas that don’t traditionally watch candidates, and hopes the events will spark viral moments that will transcend cluttered media coverage and reach voters across the country.
Ms Harris made another campaign stop with Mr Biden in Detroit and Pittsburgh over Labor Day, as the election rapidly approaches. The first mail ballots will be sent to voters in just two weeks.