Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, disembark from their campaign bus in Savannah, Georgia, August 28, 2024, as they travel across Georgia for a 2-day campaign bus tour.
Vice President Kamala Harris gave her first sit-down interview since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee on Thursday, touching on her agenda for 2025 and a series of topics that she has so far avoided — and drawing instant criticism from Republican rival Donald Trump.
Harris presented herself as a pragmatist in the long-anticipated interview, given to CNN's Dana Bash alongside her running mate, Tim Walz. The vice president sought to strike a balance between defending the Biden-Harris administration's legacy and charting her own path if elected president, while taking questions about how some of her policy positions have changed since the last time she ran for president.
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"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.
Here are five takeaways from the interview.
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Defending her shifting stances
Harris has changed her position on some major issues since 2019, when she ran for president and sought to win over progressive Democratic primary voters by cosponsoring Medicare for All, supporting a Green New Deal, opposing fracking and calling for decriminalizing migration.
“The most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” Harris said in the interview Thursday, adding that she continues to believe “the climate crisis is real” and that the White House made strides to address it with the Inflation Reduction Act.
On fracking, Harris said she promised during the 2020 vice presidential debate that she wouldn't seek to ban fracking, “nor will I going forward.” She continued, “I cast the tie-breaking vote that actually increased leases for fracking as vice president.”
(Harris said during her 2020 debate against Mike Pence that “Joe Biden will not ban fracking.”)
Harris added that there can be “a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking.”
On those who cross the border unlawfully, Harris said, “I believe there should be consequence. We have laws that have to be followed and enforced that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally.” She also criticized Trump for pushing Republicans to kill a bipartisan border security bill.
“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 organizations,” she said.
Brushing off Trump's rhetoric on her race
Trump has sought to attack Harris’ racial identity, falsely claiming she previously identified as Indian American and only started identifying as Black recently.
Harris didn’t engage.
“Same old, tired playbook,” she said. “Next question, please.”
Harris cast Trump as a politician of the past, calling him “someone who is really been pushing an agenda and an environment that is about diminishing the character and the strength of who we are as Americans, really dividing our nation.
“And I think people are ready to turn the page on that,” she continued.
It reflects Harris’ approach to the campaign since she took the baton from Biden last month: running her own race as opposed to focusing on what Trump has said day to day.
Her 'Day One' agenda
Harris said her “Day One” agenda as president will be to start “implementing my plan for what I call an opportunity economy,” citing her recent economic proposals aimed at lowering costs.
“Prices, in particular for groceries, are still too high. The American people know it. I know it," she said. "Which is why my agenda includes what we need to do to bring down the price of groceries, for example, dealing with an issue like price gouging."
Harris continued, “What we need to do to extend the child tax credit to help young families be able to take care of their children in their most formative years. What we need to do to bring down the cost of housing; my proposal includes what would be a tax credit of $25,000 for first-time home buyers.”
When asked why she hasn’t already done those things as vice president, Harris defended Biden’s record but said “there’s more to do.” Harris also said she doesn’t regret her remarks after the late June debate that the president could ably serve another four-year term. (Biden bowed to pressure mounting in his party and withdrew from the presidential race on July 21, less than a month later.)
Trump lashes out at Harris' answers
Trump responded on his social media platform ahead of the interview after watching a clip of Harris defending her new stances.
“I just saw Comrade Kamala Harris’ answer to a very weakly-phrased question ... her answer rambled incoherently, and declared her ‘values haven’t changed.’ On that I agree, her values haven’t changed — The Border is going to remain open, not closed, 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 wrote. “America will become a WASTELAND!”
Walz: 'I wear my emotions on my sleeves'
Walz defended his prior characterizations of his service in the national guard, including suggesting while discussing gun policy that he served in combat situations. Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, himself a military veteran, accused him of “stolen valor.”
Walz — who has previously said through a spokesperson that he “misspoke” when talking about handling weapons “in war” — elaborated on his remarks, blaming that and other misstatements on a habit of speaking "passionately."
“First of all, I’m incredibly proud I’ve done 24 years of wearing the uniform of this country,” Walz said in the Thursday interview. “I wear my emotions on my sleeves, and I speak especially passionately about about our children being shot in schools and around around guns. So I think people know me,” he said. “They know who I am. They know where my heart is.”
“If it’s not this, it’s an attack on my children for showing love for me, or it’s an attack on my dog,” he said. “The one thing I’ll never do is I’ll never demean another member’s service in any way.”
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