Striking a balancing act: 5 takeaways from Kamala Harris’ first major interview as nominee

Here are five key takeaways from the interview of Harris and Walz.

Harris defends her policy flip flops

One major criticism of Harris has been that she has changed her position on several issues since 2019 when she first campaigned for the presidency.

For instance, in 2020, Harris supported Medicare for All legislation but has since backed away from that position.

In 2019, she said fracking should be banned. A year later, during the 2020 vice presidential debate, Harris promised that she wouldn’t seek to ban fracking, “nor will I going forward.”

In her interview with Bash, the vice president defended her shifting stances, saying, “My values have not changed.”

To support her point, she highlighted her fundamental belief that climate change is a real and present danger.

Harris outlines her ‘Day One’ agenda

The Democratic presidential nominee told Bash that if elected, she would first begin to work towards bolstering the middle class.

Her administration, she said, would “do what we can to support and strengthen the middle class”.

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 vies for votes of disgruntled Republicans

In the interview, Harries tried to woo disaffected Republicans by hinting that she would consider appointing a Republican to her Cabinet staff.

“It would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my cabinet who was a Republican,” she said.

The last two administrations — Trump’s and Biden’s — have not appointed Cabinet members from the opposing party. The last president to do so was Democrat Barack Obama, with the appointment of Republicans such as Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Harris gives more details on Biden’s withdrawal

The vice president told Bash that when Biden called to tell her that he was going to stand aside from his reelection bid, she was with her family and baby nieces, and just had pancakes.

Harris said she asked Biden if he was sure of his decision, and he reiterated that he was.

When Bash asked the vice president if she asked for Biden’s endorsement on that call, Harris said, “My first thought was not about me, to be honest with you. My first thought was about him.”

Waltz gives neither a stellar nor bad performance

In the interview, Waltz mostly sat silent, waiting for Bash to ask him questions — at one point, he did not say anything for a full eight minutes.

When asked about a past comment when he said he carried weapons “in war” despite never actually serving in combat, Waltz said that “I speak candidly”, and that people “know where my heart is”.