SAVANNAH: Kamala Harris on Thursday defended some personal policy shifts toward the center and said she might name a Republican to her Cabinet if elected, in her first interview with a mainstream news organization since Democrats nominated her for president.
“I think the most important and significant aspect of my political outlook and my decisions is that my values have not changed,” he told CNN anchor Dana Bash in an advance excerpt of the interview, which is set to air at 9 p.m. ET (0100 GMT Friday).
Harris has moved more toward the center on some issues since running for president in 2020 until replacing President Joe Biden as Democrats' choice to face Republican former President Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 election.
He has toughened his stance on migration at the southern U.S. border with Mexico. He also does not want to ban fracking, a method of energy production that employs many people in Pennsylvania, one of the few key states that could decide the election.
“My views on what we must do to secure our border have not changed. I spent two terms as California's attorney general pursuing transnational criminal organizations, violating U.S. laws, and the illegal passage of weapons, drugs, and human beings across our border. My values have not changed,” he said.
Harris's conversation was meant to show she had a command of the issues. Some critics suggested she might be less polished in unscheduled situations after she led the Democrats' turnaround with a series of hard-hitting campaign speeches.
Harris, flanked by her vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, also discussed adding a Republican to her potential Cabinet and said she wanted a diversity of opinions.
“I think it's important to have people with different viewpoints and experiences at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made. And I think it would be beneficial to the American public to have a Republican member in my Cabinet,” he said.
The US vice president has avoided formal interviews and press conferences during her rapid rise to the top of the Democratic ticket.
First personal interview since Biden's departure
While she has answered questions from reporters on the campaign trail and has been interviewed on TikTok in recent days, as of Thursday she had not conducted an in-person interview with a major network or print journalist since President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign on July 21 and endorsed her.
Asked on August 8 when she would do her first big interview, Harris said she wanted to do one by the end of the month.
Bash, who moderated the June 27 debate between Donald Trump and Biden that hastened the president's exit from the race, conducted the interview in Savannah, Georgia, as Harris and Walz continue their bus tour of the battleground state.
Harris' lack of interviews has drawn criticism from her opponents and some concern among supporters, who say she is less sharp in spontaneous situations than at rallies or speeches, where she has prepared remarks and a teleprompter at her disposal.
Trump routinely holds press conferences and interviews with conservative media outlets, often using them to criticize Harris and Biden rather than discuss his own policy goals in detail.
As Harris's bus caravan departed from her hotel in Savannah on Thursday, several dozen Trump supporters carrying signs and banners braved the pouring rain to line the streets.
She and Walz arrived at Kim's Café, a black-owned restaurant, early in the afternoon to record the interview.
Before Harris selected him as her running mate for the Nov. 5 election, Walz conducted a series of interviews with major television networks.
Harris and Walz began their bus tour of Georgia on Tuesday, working to turn out voters in a state Biden narrowly won in 2020 that could play a decisive role in this year's election.
