Harris’ values unchanged, she says in interview | Arkansas Democrat Gazette (2024)

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday defended shifting away from her some of her more liberal positions in her first major television interview of her presidential campaign, but insisted her "values have not changed," even as she is "seeking consensus."

Sitting with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris was asked about changes in her policies over the years, specifically her reversals on fracking and decriminalizing illegal border crossings.

"I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed," Harris said.

She acknowledged, however, that she had adopted feedback from "traveling the country extensively" as vice president -- leading to some of the significant policy changes from her 2020 presidential campaign.

"I believe it is important to build consensus, and it is important to find a common place of understanding, where we can actually solve problems," she said.

The interview with CNN's Dana Bash came as voters are still trying to learn more about the Democratic ticket under an unusually compressed time frame -- Joe Biden stepped down just five weeks ago. It was focused largely on policy, as Harris sought to show that she had adopted more moderate positions on issues that Republicans argue are extreme, while Walz defended past misstatements.

Joint interviews during an election year are a fixture in politics; Biden and Harris, Trump and Mike Pence, Barack Obama and Biden -- all did them at a similar point in the race. The difference is those other candidates had all done solo interviews, too. Harris hasn't done an in-depth solo interview since she became her party's standard bearer five weeks ago, though she did sit for several while she was still Biden's running mate.

Harris said serving with Biden was "one of the greatest honors of my career," as she recounted the moment he called to tell her he was stepping down and would support her.

"He told me what he had decided to do and ... I asked him, 'Are you sure?' and he said, 'Yes,' and that's how I learned about it."

She said she didn't ask Biden to endorse her because "he was very clear that he was going to endorse me."

Harris defended the administration's record on the southern border and immigration, noting that she was tasked with trying to address the "root causes" in other countries that were driving the border crossings.

"We have laws that have to be followed and enforced, that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally, and there should be consequences," Harris said.

When asked what her top priority would be when she entered office, Harris said she'd aim to help middle class Americans address economic concerns including inflation.

"Day 1, it's going to be about, one, implementing my plan for what I call an opportunity economy," Harris said. "I've already laid out a number of proposals in that regard, which include what we're going to do to bring down the cost of everyday goods, what we're going to do to invest in America's small businesses, what we're going to do to invest in families."

Asked about Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza, Harris said, "I am unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel's defense and its ability to defend itself." But the vice president also reiterated what she's said for months, that civilian deaths are too high amid the fighting.

She also brushed off Republican Donald Trump's questioning of her racial identity after he said she "happened to turn Black." Harris, who is of Black and South Asian heritage, said it was the "same old, tired playbook."

"Next question, please."

Harris said she was hoping to be a president for "all Americans" -- and would look to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet as a signal she was pursuing bipartisan consensus. Harris said she did not have a particular person in mind.

"I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion," Harris said. "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."

Trump and Harris are set to debate on Sept. 10. In a post Thursday evening, it appeared Trump was paying close attention to the interview. After the debate was mentioned, he posted, "I look so forward to Debating Comrade Comrade Kamala Harris and exposing her for the fraud she is."

Trump criticized Harris' delivery but said he agreed "her values haven't changed."

"The Border is going to remain open, not closed," he continued. "There will be Free Healthcare for Illegal Aliens, Sanctuary Cities, No Cash Bail, Gun Confiscation, Zero Fracking, a Ban on Gasoline-Powered Cars, Private Healthcare will be abolished, a 70-80% tax rate will be put in place, and she will Defund the Police."

Trump went on to say that his Democratic opponent "has changed every one of her long held positions, on everything. America will never allow an Election WEAPONIZING MARXIST TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S."

The debate will be the first-ever meeting for Harris and Trump. The opponents had only been in the same space when Harris, as a senator, attended Trump's State of the Union addresses.

CLARIFYING STATEMENTS

During the interview, Walz watched quietly and nodded when Harris made her main points. He was asked about misstatements, starting with how he has described his 24 years of service in the National Guard.

In a 2018 video clip that the Harris-Walz campaign once circulated, Walz spoke out against gun violence and said, "We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at."

Critics said the comment "that I carried in war" suggested that Walz portrayed himself as someone who spent time in a combat zone. But a campaign spokesperson said he misspoke.

Asked about statements that appeared to indicate that he and his wife conceived their children with in vitro fertilization, when they in fact used a less controversial fertility treatment, he said he believes most Americans get that it's the Trump campaign that's splitting hairs.

Democrats' enthusiasm about their vote in November has surged over the past few months, according to polling from Gallup. About 8 in 10 Democrats now say they are more enthusiastic than usual about voting, compared with 55% in March.

This gives them an enthusiasm edge they did not have earlier this year. Republicans' enthusiasm has increased by much less over the same period, and about two-thirds of Republicans now say they are more enthusiastic than usual about voting.

But at a packed arena for a rally Thursday in Savannah, Harris cast her nascent campaign as the underdog and encouraged the crowd to work hard to elect her in November.

"We're here to speak truth and one of the things that we know is that this is going to be a tight race to the end," she said.

The Democrat blasted Georgia's refusal to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and renewed promises to overturn abortion restrictions passed in 2019 by a narrow Republican majority and signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp.

And she electrified supporters by invoking a string of recent Democratic statewide victories in 2020, 2021 and 2022 that helped send Biden to the White House and cemented Democratic control of the U.S. Senate.

"You showed up. You knocked on doors. You registered folks to vote," she said before issuing a challenge to the crowd packed into Savannah's Enmarket Arena: "Are you ready to do it again?"

The visit was designed to show the campaign's strength in a part of the state often overlooked by presidential contenders, and thousands showed up hours early to show their support.

During the 21-minute speech, supporters interrupted Harris so many times that at one point she exhorted the crowd to "hold up" so she could lay out her policies.

Harris went through a list of Democratic concerns: that Trump will further restrict women's rights after he appointed three judges to the U.S. Supreme Court who helped overturn Roe, that he'd repeal the Affordable Care Act, and that given new immunity powers granted presidents by the U.S. Supreme Court, "imagine Donald Trump with no guard rails."

The crowd ebbed and flowed with Harris' speech, echoing chants of "not going back" interspersed with loud applause and catcalls at any mention of Trump.

Clinton Edminster, a small-business owner and Democratic activist sitting in one of the first rows, noted the spike in applause when Harris used the phrase "when I'm president."

"Folks just want this over and want her in the White House," he said. "Specifics be damned."

Another rally attendee, retiree Rosemary Mackey, spoke of the challenge of converting the enthusiasm into electoral energy in less than three months.

"Let's hope this translates to votes."

State Rep. Edna Jackson, the city's former mayor, brought the crowd to its feet with her spin on pioneering former U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm's famous quote, "If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair."

"The difference is here Kamala Harris will be at the head of the table, and everybody will have a chair," she said.

U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams of Atlanta, the chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia, took aim at Trump's attempt to overturn his 2020 defeat in the state, which triggered pending criminal charges in Fulton County.

"Are we going to let Donald Trump take us back to a dark place, or are we going to walk with Harris into a bright blue future?" Williams pressed the crowd. "We have 68 days. This is battleground Georgia, where every vote counts. I need you in this fight with me."

The rally was the end of a two-day bus tour in southeastern Georgia. Harris has another campaign blitz on Labor Day with Biden in Detroit and Pittsburgh with the election rapidly approaching. The first mail ballots get sent to voters in just two weeks.

Information for this article was contributed by Zeke Miller, Colleen Long, Sagar Meghani and Amelia Thomson DeVeaux of The Associated Press; Jennifer Epstein and Josh Wingrove of Bloomberg News (TNS); and Greg Bluestein and Adam Van Brimmer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (TNS).