Vice President Kamala Harris hasn’t held a formal press conference with reporters since she became the presumptive and now official Democratic nominee.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ interview drought finally ended Thursday, but after 40 days as the presumptive and now official Democratic nominee for president, she has yet to hold an official press conference.
Under pressure to sit down for a substantive interview after weeks of stonewalling, she agreed to a sit-down with CNN’s Dana Bash on Thursday in Georgia, joined by running mate Tim Walz.
Harris defended some of her noted policy flip-flops on issues like fracking and immigration, saying her “values” hadn’t changed. She was also pressed on whether she had regrets about defending President Biden’s mental acuity after his debate, given he dropped out of the race less than a month later. She also said she wanted to “turn the page on the last decade of what I believe has been contrary to where the spirit of our country really lies.”
Bash pointed out Harris had been vice president for three-and-a-half of those years, but Harris countered she meant moving on from this “era”, seemingly referring to the political rise of Donald Trump that began in 2015.
Following Harris’ first sit-down interview, NBC News Washington correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, who is known for her glowing Biden-Harris coverage, appeared unimpressed.
“Harris keeps saying ‘my values haven’t changed’ while not explaining why her positions have changed”, Alcindor wrote.
