Vice President Kamala Harris said in her first TV interview since becoming the Democratic Party’s 2024 nominee for president that she was spending time with her nieces when President Joe Biden called to tell her he was no longer running for re-election.
Harris, 59, with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz by her side, told CNN’s Dana Bash her family was visiting when she got the call. She just had breakfast with her nieces and was preparing to do a puzzle when the phone rang.
“It was Joe Biden, and he told me what he had decided to do. And I asked him, ‘Are you sure?’ And he said, ‘Yes,’ ” Harris recalled. “My first thought was not about me, to be honest with you. My first thought was about him.”
When Bash, 53, asked Harris if she asked Biden, 81, to endorse her, Harris said Biden was “very clear” he would. Serving as Biden’s vice president is “one of the greatest honors of my career,” Harris said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Harris said her “values have not changed” when asked about some of her changing positions. For example, she told CNN she no longer supports banning fracking.
“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,” Harris told Bash, later adding, “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.”
When Harris swapped in for Joe Biden in the presidential race on July 21, she lined up a series of rallies to build enthusiasm for her last-minute candidacy and reintroduce herself to the world. With Walz at her side since Aug. 6, Harris has filled packed arenas during campaign stops around the country.
Kamala Harris on Aug. 19.
Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg/Getty
While Harris’ poll numbers skyrocketed during her highly visible national tour, the vice president’s opponents were quick to criticize her for prioritizing scripted events over candid interviews and press conferences.
“She is running a basement campaign where she refuses to go before the free press and actually answer their questions,” J.D. Vancesaid at a campaign event in Philadelphia on Aug. 6. “Well, what kind of election can you have if your own presidential candidate won’t actually answer the tough questions?”
Though Harris has devoted a significant amount of time as vice president doing television hits, podcast appearances and panel discussions to discuss the Biden administration’s efforts — her campaign said she’s done 80 interviews this year alone — she recently became the subject of a Republican-backed conspiracy theory that she’s incapable of speaking without a teleprompter.
Kamala Harris on Aug. 22.
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty
Thursday’s sit-down conversation with Bash was Harris’ first significant chance to prove her critics wrong, and to lay out a clear vision for a Harris-Walz administration that she has spent the last month frantically piecing together.
Harris will get a chance to directly challenge Trump on Sept. 10 in a setting where she has historically thrived: their first presidential debate. Two additional debates between vice presidential nominees Walz and Vance are scheduled for Sept. 18 and Oct. 1.
