Harris’ CNN Interview Gets Positive Reviews From Critics

In an exclusive sit-down interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Vice President Kamala Harris gave her most detailed explanation yet for her shifting stances on fracking and immigration, attributing the changes to the new perspectives she’s gained from her time in office while emphasizing that her core values remain unchanged.

In the interview, Harris also stated that she would appoint a Republican to her Cabinet if elected and shared for the first time details of President Joe Biden‘s call informing her of his plan to withdraw from the presidential race.

The interview comes as Harris faces increasing pressure to clarify her policy positions amid a campaign characterized more by Democratic enthusiasm for a competitive race than by detailed proposals or policy papers.

While the interview in Savannah, Georgia, offered one of the clearest insights into Harris’ positions and presidential plans, she did not detail specific actions, such as signing executive orders.

Instead, she emphasized her commitment to strengthening the economy: “First and foremost, one of my highest priorities is to do what we can to support and strengthen the middle class.”

Harris also addressed why her positions on fracking and decriminalizing illegal border crossings changed, in response to criticism over her reversals.

At a September 2019 CNN climate crisis town hall, Harris pledged to implement a federal fracking ban on her first day in office.

However, by the time she became Biden’s running mate, she had shifted her position and cast the tie-breaking vote to expand fracking leases.

“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” Harris said during Thursday’s interview.

“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,” she added.

Her campaign later clarified that Harris no longer supports the Green New Deal, a comprehensive proposal for addressing climate change.

During the interview, she also highlighted Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which made record investments in combatting climate change, as an example of her climate record. 

“We have set goals for the United States of America and by extension, the globe, around when we should meet certain standards for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as an example. That value has not changed,” said Harris.

“What I have seen is that we can grow and we can increase a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking,” she added.

In response to questions about her changing stance on immigration, she referenced her record as California attorney general, where she prosecuted gangs involved in cross-border trafficking, as evidence of her values on the issue.

“My values have not changed. So that’s 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. 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,” stated Harris.

Embracing her vow to be a president for “all Americans,” Harris also said that she would appoint a Republican to her cabinet if elected, though she did not have a specific name in mind, reviving a tradition abandoned by former President Donald Trump and Biden.