More than a month after being named the Democratic candidate for the 2024 presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris finally gave her first interview. However, it wasn’t a solo appearance, her running mate, Tim Walz, also joined. Facing backlash for not doing the interview alone, her campaign has since clarified that Harris will do a solo interview before the election.
According to Politico, in response to criticism over Harris not appearing solo, her campaign “provided a list of joint interviews conducted by every major party presidential ticket since 2004.” A senior campaign official added, “obviously she will do solo interviews too” before election day.
During the joint interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Walz answered almost as many questions as Harris, sharing about half of the interview time. Harris faced questions about her shifting positions, her goals for her first day in office, and why she hasn’t yet addressed certain issues while already serving in the White House.
The announcement of Harris’s joint interview with Walz was widely criticized beforehand.
“So Kamala Harris finally agreed to do a supposed real press interview with CNN reporter Dana Bash. But Harris won’t do it alone — Gov Tim Walz will be there as her security blanket. Harris is too daft to do a press interview like this on her own,” commented Fred Fleitz, vice chair of the America First Policy Institute’s Center for American Security.
Rep. Elise Stefanik criticized the decision as well, stating, “It is absolutely unacceptable that the first and ONLY interview from Kamala Harris—the anointed Democrat nominee for President of the United States—is done jointly with Tim Walz. It is offensive to ALL women that Kamala has refused to sit for a solo interview when she is running to be Commander-in-Chief.”
Since being endorsed by Joe Biden, who withdrew from the race under pressure from his own party, Harris has made few appearances where she took questions from reporters. She has agreed to only one presidential debate, scheduled for September 10 with ABC News. Harris has also expressed a willingness to debate Trump again in October, though the date and news outlet are still undecided. She declined two other proposed debates from Trump, one on Fox News and another on NBC News.
