Kamala Harris said her values ”haven’t changed” despite several policy positions she has modified since her time in the Senate until today.
“I think the most important and significant aspect of my political outlook and my decisions is that my values have not changed,” she told CNN’s Dana Bash in her first interview since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.
CNN aired excerpts of the interview on Thursday shortly after it was recorded. The full interview, described as “wide-ranging,” will air at 9 p.m. ET.
At the meeting, Harris also said she would nominate a Republican to serve in her Cabinet if elected.
“I don’t have anyone in mind. There are 68 days left until the elections and I’m not going to put the cart before the horse,” he said.
And she ignored Donald Trump’s questioning of her racial identity when he suggested she “happened to become black.”
—The same old tired instruction manual, he said. Next question, please.
Tim Walz and Kamala Harris met with CNN’s Dana Bash in Savannah, Georgia
But the interview clip that aired focused on her political positions as a presidential candidate.
Some of his positions, particularly on environmental issues, have shifted from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party to a more central position. He has also rejected claims that he was in charge of the border.
Harris has criticized Donald Trump’s border wall, but also promised, as president, to sign a bipartisan border security bill that includes $650 million to build and reinforce miles of new border wall.
“My views on what we must do to secure our border have not changed. I spent two terms as California Attorney General pursuing transnational criminal organizations that violated U.S. laws relating to the illegal movement of weapons, drugs and human beings across our border,” he said.
Border crossings have reached historic lows as the Biden administration enacted a measure in the bipartisan Senate bill that allows border officials to quickly turn away migrants when crossings exceed a certain level. Biden used a presidential proclamation to get it enacted.
Additionally, Harris originally supported a ban on fracking, but now says she would not implement it as president.
“You mentioned the Green New Deal. I’ve always believed, and worked on it, that the climate crisis is real, that it’s an urgent issue that we need to address within a time frame,” he told CNN.
And in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, Harris praised then-Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for shifting $150 million from the LAPD’s budget to separate programs designed to create jobs and expand access to health care, particularly in minority communities.
Now, as he runs for president, his campaign is downplaying his past support for cutting law enforcement budgets, or, as Republicans call it, “defunding the police.”
Harris has worked in public service for decades, and her constituents have expanded from the liberal city of San Francisco to a more national audience.
She started as San Francisco district attorney, became California attorney general, then a U.S. senator, ran for president in 2020 and became President Joe Biden’s vice president.
It took 37 days from the time she launched her campaign to be granted an in-person interview. It happened at Kim’s Cafe, a local black-owned restaurant in Savannah, Georgia.
Harris is in the middle of a campaign bus tour around the state.
She was accompanied in the interview by her running mate, Tim Walz. Republicans criticized the inclusion of her running mate, saying it showed she was not capable of being questioned alone.
Harris’ campaign fired back, pointing to the long-standing tradition of presidential candidates and their running mates conducting joint interviews.
Republicans have also criticized her for waiting so long to do an interview and for her shifts in policy positions.
Kamala Harris listens during a stop at Dottie’s Market in Savannah, Georgia, as part of her bus tour.
In the interview, Kamala Harris answered Donald Trump’s questions about her black heritage, which she previously did in an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists.
Harris became the nominee after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in late July following a terrible debate performance with Donald Trump that raised questions about her ability to do the job.
Harris has made great strides in catching up to Trump in the polls compared to Biden’s performance.
The two are splitting key states evenly in recent polls.
Of the seven states in contention, Trump wins in Arizona, North Carolina and Wisconsin, Harris wins in Georgia, Michigan and Nevada and the front-runners tie in Pennsylvania.
There are 93 Electoral College votes at stake among the seven competitive states, but the results of a new Emerson College/The Hill Poll Details released Thursday reveal the two are tied.