Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz have appeared on CNN for their first major in-depth interview since launching their bid for the United States presidency.
Harris, in particular, has faced scrutiny for avoiding a major media interview since announcing her candidacy late last month.
But on Thursday, she and Walz met CNN anchor Dana Bash in the coastal city of Savannah for an hour-long interview, as she campaigned across the battleground state of Georgia.
Harris quickly tried to establish her bona fides as a unifying candidate, in an attempt to draw a distinction with her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump.
“I believe it is important to build consensus, and it is important to find a common place of understanding of where we can actually solve problems,” Harris said as she sat across from Bash in Kim’s Cafe, a family-owned restaurant in Savannah.
But Bash pressed Harris on the stark changes she made to her policy platform since she first ran for the presidency in 2020. She also questioned Walz on seeming exaggerations the Minnesota governor made in public statements about his military record.
Here are the key takeaways from Harris’s most in-depth interview to date as a presidential candidate.
Harris outlines plans for day one
Harris has a historically short time span before the November 5 election to win over voters.
After all, she only took over the Democratic ticket on July 21, when incumbent President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. Harris is currently Biden’s vice president.
As Thursday’s interview opened, Bash asked Harris about her plans for her first day in office, if she is elected in November.
Harris responded by reiterating what she has identified as the top priority for her presidency: bolstering the middle class.
Her administration, she said, would “do what we can to support and strengthen the middle class”.
She and Walz then gave a nod to their signature policy proposals, including a child tax credit, lowering grocery costs and increasing construction to address a housing shortage in the country. Harris also said she would strike a different tone than Trump did in the White House.
“When I look at the aspirations, the goals, the ambitions of the American people, I think people are ready for a new way forward,” she said.
“I think, sadly, in the last decade, we have had – in the former president – someone who has really been pushing an agenda and an environment that is about diminishing the strength and the character of who we are as Americans.”
Later, when asked about comments Trump made questioning her racial identity, Harris swatted away his remarks: “Same old tired playbook. Next question, please.”
Harris describes learning of Biden’s withdrawal
Bash asked Harris to describe how she learned that Biden was withdrawing from the presidential race in July, only weeks ahead of the Democratic National Convention.
“It was a Sunday,” Harris explained. “My family was staying with us, including my baby nieces, and we had just had pancakes.”
“We were sitting down to do a puzzle, and the phone rang, and it was Joe Biden. And he told me what he had decided to do,” Harris continued.
“I asked him, ‘Are you sure?’ And he said yes. And that’s how I learned about it.”
On July 21, Biden announced the news to the US public, with a statement on his social media accounts. “I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down,” he wrote.
But the decision came after Biden gave a fumbling performance in the June 28 presidential debate against Trump. Many in the Democratic Party expressed concern over the 81-year-old’s age and capacity to handle the pressures of the presidency.
Harris, however, had consistently defended Biden’s ability to lead. Bash prodded Harris to know if she had any regrets about her time in Biden’s White House.
“Not at all. I have served with President Biden for almost four years now, and I can tell you, it’s one of the greatest honours of my career, truly,” Harris said. She called Biden’s presidency “transformative” before taking another swipe at Trump.
Biden, she said, “has the intelligence, the commitment and the judgement and disposition that I think the American people rightly deserve in their president. By contrast, the former president has none of that.”
Harris hints at Republican Cabinet member
Thursday’s CNN interview came exactly one week after the close of the Democratic National Convention when Harris formally accepted the party nomination for the presidency.
In her acceptance speech, Harris pledged to be a “president for all Americans”.
In Thursday’s broadcast, she took that promise one step further. When Bash asked if she would consider appointing a Republican to her Cabinet staff – a group of top presidential advisers – Harris immediately said yes.
“I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion. 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,” Harris explained.
“And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican.”
Neither of the last two administrations – Trump’s and Biden’s – have appointed Cabinet members from the opposing party. The last president to do so was Democrat Barack Obama, with the appointment of Republicans like Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
Bash tried to coax Harris into revealing if she had someone in particular on her mind for her Cabinet.
“No one in particular in mind,” Harris replied. “I have 68 days to go in this election, so I’m not putting the cart before the horse.”
Bash questions Harris about back-tracking
Thursday’s interview took place largely without fireworks, with Harris repeating much of what she has said on the campaign trail.
But Bash zeroed in on reversals Harris made to her policy stance since taking office as vice president.
For instance, when Harris campaigned for president in 2020, she supported Medicare for All legislation championed by progressive Senator Bernie Sanders. She has since backed away from that position.
And in 2019, she told a CNN town hall that she favoured a “Green New Deal” that would include more aggressive policies to combat climate change. “There’s no question I’m in favour of banning fracking,” she said at the time.
After Harris joined Biden in 2020 as his running mate, she quickly retreated from that position, something she pointed out in Thursday’s interview with Bash.
“I made that clear on the debate stage in 2020, that I would not ban fracking,” she said, before adding: “As president, I will not ban fracking.”
Seeking to head off accusations that she had flip-flopped, Harris emphasised that she continues to perceive climate change as a major threat – one that can be addressed without a fracking ban.
“Let’s be clear: My values have not changed. I believe it is very important that we take seriously what we must do to guard against what is a clear crisis in terms of the climate,” Harris said.
“What I’ve seen is that we can grow and we can increase a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking.”
Fracking is part of the economy in battleground states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, where Trump has used Harris’s 2019 statements as a point of attack. But critics have pointed out that fracking comes with severe risks, including the potential to pollute groundwater used for drinking.
Nevertheless, Harris repeatedly pledged on Thursday that she would not ban fracking if elected president.
“In 2020, I made very clear where I stand,” she said. “I kept my word, and I will keep my word.”
Bash asks Harris about Gaza policy
Thursday’s interview comes in the final countdown before the election begins: Some states open their early-voting period as soon as September.
The presidential election is set to be decided by narrow margins, with Trump and Harris in a tight race.
However, Thursday poll from Reuters and Ipsos found that Harris had pulled ahead slightly, garnering 45 percent support to Trump’s 41 percent.
Still, Bash raised the prospect that Harris’s stance on Israel’s war in Gaza could cost her votes, particularly among the progressives in her party.
Harris has largely followed Biden’s lead in pledging unconditional support to Israel, despite the spiralling death toll in Gaza and persistent concerns about human rights abuses.
Bash pressed Harris about whether she would set herself apart from Biden: Would she do anything differently?
“Let me be very clear: I am unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel’s defence and its ability to defend itself,” Harris said, repeating a sentiment she also voiced on the Democratic National Convention stage.
But she offered an addendum: “How it does so matters. Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.”
Harris ended by saying, “We have got to get a deal done,” a reference to ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire that has thus far remained elusive.
After recording the CNN interview, Harris continued to her final stop on her August campaign tour of Georgia: a rally at Savannah’s Enmarket Arena.
Pro-Palestinian protesters briefly interrupted her remarks.