Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz sat down for their first major media interview. Here are the key takeaways from the 27-minute sit down with CNN’s Dana Bash.
How Harris plans to spend her first day as president
Harris said that her immediate focus as president would be to improve the fortunes of America’s middle class.
“First and foremost, one of my highest priorities is to do what we can to support and strengthen the middle class,” she said. “When I look at the aspirations, the goals, the ambitions of the American people, I think that people are ready for a new way forward.
In the way that generations of Americans have been fueled by hope and by optimism, I think that, sadly, in the last decade we have had in the former president someone who has really been pushing an agenda and environment that is about diminishing the character and the strength of who we are as Americans.”
She said Trump has been “dividing our nation,” and that Americans are “ready to turn the page on that.”
In terms of practical moves, Harris said she’d implement her plan for an “opportunity economy,” the proposals for which she’s already outlined. This, she said, would entail lowering the cost of everyday goods, boosting small businesses, and extending child tax credit to $6000 for families for the first year of their child’s life.
Her changed position on fracking and the border
Harris defended her shifting stance on issues like the border and fracking, which she took progressive positions on when she ran for president in 2019. “The most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” she said, adding: “I have always believed, and I’ve worked on it, that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter.”
In 2022, Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the $750 billion Inflation Reduction Act in Congress, which President Biden signed into law. Though the bill expanded clean energy efforts, it also broadened the use of fracking in the United States.
She said: “As vice president, I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking.”
Harris noted Trump’s efforts to quash a bipartisan border security bill, and said of illegal crossings: “I believe there should be consequence. We have laws that have to be followed and enforced that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally.”
“My value around what we need to do to secure our border — that value has not changed. I spent two terms as the attorney general of California prosecuting transnational criminal organizations,” she added.
On the Biden administration
Harris defended Bidenomics, and maintained that many of the steps taken during his administration have laid the foundations for what she hopes to achieve in hers.
She pointed to bringing down prescription medication for the American people, including capping the annual cost of prescription medication for seniors, and extending the child tax credit “so that we cut child poverty in America by over 50%.” (As CNN notes, this is a slight exaggeration.)
She highlighted the creation of “over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs” and improving the supply chain “so we’re not relying on foreign governments to supply American families with their basic needs.”
“I’ll say that that’s good work. There’s more to do, but that’s good work,” she concluded.
A chance to move on from Trump
Harris said this election represents an opportunity for a “new way forward” after a near-decade that has seen Donald Trump at the epicenter of politics, whether in office or out. She refused to rise to a question about Trump’s claim that she’d “happened to turn Black” for this race, replying: “Same old, tired playbook.”
“Next question, please,” she added.
Harris painted Trump as a politician whose time is over, and whose effect has been to break America down, rather than build it up.
That life-changing phone call from President Biden
Harris said that her family was visiting, and they’d just enjoyed a Sunday morning breakfast of pancakes and bacon. She and her baby nieces had sat down “to do a puzzle” when she got the fateful call from President Biden
“It was Joe Biden, and he told me what he had decided to do,” she said. “I asked him, ‘Are you sure?’”
He replied “yes.”
Harris said that Biden made it clear immediately that he intended to endorse her as the new Democratic candidate. “My first thought was not about me, to be honest with you. My first thought was about him,” she added.
Walz is “excited about this agenda too”
Tim Walz made for a supportive and engaging partner, saying that he shared Harris’s excitement about their plans for day one in office. He said he aimed to inspire “America to what can be,” noting that moves like extending child tax credit can have enormous impacts “reducing child poverty by a third.”
He addressed a recent quote negative quote of his about guns, when he mentioned carrying weapons in war. A campaign official later said this had been erroneous.
“This was after a school shooting, the idea of carrying these weapons of war,” he said. “And my wife the English teacher, told me my grammar’s not always correct.”
“I’ll never demean another member’s service in any way. I never have and I never will,” he added.
He said of his own military service: “I’m incredibly proud. I’ve done 24 years of wearin’ uniform of this country. Equally proud of my service in a public school classroom, whether it’s Congress, or the governor.
My record speaks for itself, but I think people are coming to get to know me. I speak like they do. I speak candidly. I wear my emotions on my sleeves, and I speak especially passionately about our children being shot in schools and around guns. So I think people know me. They know who I am.”
