Kamala Harris claimed her values ‘have not changed’ dispite several policy positions she has shifted since her time in the Senate until present day.
‘I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,’ she told CNN’s Dana Bash in her first sit-down interview since she became the Democratic presidential nominee.
CNN aired portions of the interview on Thursday shortly after it was taped. Described as ‘wide-ranging,’ the full interview will air at 9 pm ET.
In the sitdown, Harris also said she would name a Republican to serve in her Cabinet if elected.
‘No one particular in mind. We have 68 days before the election and I’m not putting the cart before the horse,’ she said.
And she brushed off Donald Trump’s questioning of her racial identity when he suggestedshe ‘happened to turn Black.’
‘Same old, tired playbook,’ she said. ‘Next question, please.’
Tim Walz and Kamala Harris sat down with CNN’s Dana Bash in Savannah, Georgia
But the clip of the interview that aired focused on her policy positions as a presidential candidate.
Some of her stances, particularly on environmental issues, have switched from the progressive end of the Democratic Party to a more central position. She also has pushed back on claims she was in charge of the border.
Harris has railed against Donald Trump’s border wall but also vowed, as president, to sign a bipartisan border security bill that includes $650 million for building and reinforcing miles of new border wall.
‘My value around what we need to do to secure our border. That value has not changed. I spent two terms as the Attorney General of California prosecuting transnational criminal organization violations of American laws regarding the passage illegal passage of guns, drugs and human beings across our border,’ she noted.
Border crossings have reached record low levels because the Biden administration enacted a measure from the bipartisan Senate bill that allowing border officials to turn back migrants quickly when crossings exceed a certain level. Biden used presidential proclamation to get it enacted.
Additionally, Harris originally supported a ban on fracking but now says she would not implement one as president.
‘You mentioned the Green New Deal. 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 around time,’ she told CNN.
And, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, at the hands of a Minneapolis Police officer in 2020, Harris praised then-Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for shifting $150 million from the LAPD budget into separate programs designed to create jobs and expand health access — particularly in minority communities.
Now, as she runs for president, her campaign is downplaying her previous support for cutting law enforcement budgets, or, as Republicans call it ‘defunding the police.’
Harris has been in public service for decades and her consituents have shifted from the liberal city of San Francisco to a more national audience.
She started as a San Francisco district attorney, became California attorney general, then U.S. senator, ran for president in 2020 and became vice president under President Joe Biden.
It took 37 days since she launched her campaign for a sit-down interview to take place. It happened at Kim’s Cafe, a local Black-owned restaurant in Savannah, Georgia.
Harris is in the midst of a campaign bus tour of the state.
She was joined in ther interview by her running mate Tim Walz. Republicans criticized the inclusion of her running mate, saying it showed she wasn’t capable of being grilled solo.
Harris’ campaign pushed back, noting the long tradition of presidential candidates and their running mates conducting joint interviews.
Republicans also have criticized her for waiting so long to conduct an interview and for her changing policy positions.
Kamala Harris listens during a stop at Dottie’s Market in Savannah, Ga., as part of her bus tour
In the interview, Kamala Harris responded to Donald Trump questioning her black heritage, which he did above in an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists
Harris became the nominee after President Joe Biden exited the race in late July following a terrible debate performance with Donald Trump that led to questions about his ability to do the job.
Harris has made great strides in catching up to Trump in polling compared to how Biden was doing.
The two are splitting the swing states evenly in the latest polling.
Of the seven battleground states, Trump takes Arizona, North Carolina and Wisconsin, Harris takes Georgia, Michigan and Nevada and the frontrunners tie in Pennsylvania.
There are 93 Electoral College votes up for grabs between the seven competitive states, but the results of a new Emerson College Polling/The Hill poll released on Thursday reveal the two are in a dead tie.
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