Kamala Harris sat down for her first interview as the Democratic presidential nominee and answered all questions except one about her race and ethnic background.
The Vice President and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, spoke with CNN’s Dana Bash about policies their administration plans to implement if they win the 2024 election. At one point during the nearly 30-minute interview, Harris brushed off Donald Trump’s questioning of her racial identity, dismissing her rival’s suggestion that she “happened to turn Black.”
“Same old, tired playbook,” she said. “Next question, please.”
When it comes to Harris’s immediate plans upon taking office, she stressed her urgency to strengthen the economy.
“First and foremost, one of my highest priorities is to do what we can to support and strengthen the middle class,” she told Bash.
Elsewhere, Harris explained why she adjusted some of her positions on fracking and immigration, noting that while her core values remain the same, her experience as vice president has given her new perspectives on some of the country’s most pressing issues.
“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” she said. “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.”
Harris also addressed how she would tackle the ongoing border crisis and immigration issue in the country by highlighting her record as California attorney general when she prosecuted gangs accused of cross-border trafficking.
“My values have not changed. So that is the reality of it. And four years of being vice president, I’ll tell you, one of the aspects, to your point, is traveling the country extensively,” she said. “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.”
Since becoming the official Democratic nominee, Harris laid out an economic policy plan focused on bringing down food, housing, and childcare costs by going after large corporations guilty of price gouging and improving affordable housing. However, Bash asked Harris why her policy plans hadn’t been implemented during the three years that Biden has been in office.
“We
had to recover as an economy, and we have done that,” she said while noting efforts toward containing inflation, cutting costs for prescription drugs, and tax cuts for families. “There’s more to do, but that’s good work.”Harris remained in line with her commitment to serve as a president for “all Americans” by revealing her plan to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet if elected. This approach revives a tradition from recent decades—one not followed by Trump or Biden—of including at least one opposing party member in the Cabinet.
“I’ve got 68 days to go with this election, so I’m not putting the cart before the horse,” she said. “But I would, I think. I think it’s really important. I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion.”
Harris continued, “I
think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican.”RELATED CONTENT: Over 200 Members Of The Bush, McCain, Romney Administrations Nix Support Of Trump To Endorse Kamala Harris