Kamala Harris faces a critical test of both her political abilities and broader campaign strategy as she sits down Thursday for her first in-depth, on-the-record interview since seizing the Democratic nomination.
The first interview of a campaign is always a challenge, as candidates are prodded about their policy positions and asked to weigh in on some of the tougher issues facing the nation.
But Harris’ sit-down with CNN’s Dana Bash, to air at 9 p.m. Eastern time, is unlike any in modern political history.
The vice president’s last-minute ascension to the top of the Democratic ticket following President Joe Biden’s decision to stand aside is unprecedented, and her frenzied but successful scramble to build out a campaign means many voters still harbor burning questions about her policy platform and approach to the presidency.
That would be pressure enough considering there’s less than 70 days until Election Day. But Harris’ decision to hold off an interview for weeks drew attacks from her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, who has pointed to past missteps by the vice president in unscripted settings to argue that she’s ducking the media.
Harris’ choice to include her running mate, Tim Walz, in Thursday’s interview has only fueled additional Republican mockery — while prompting questions about whether her campaign aides, some of whom spent years advising Biden to avoid media scrutiny, can pivot their strategy.
Campaign priorities
Those close to Harris insist the scrutiny is overblown.
They say it simply made sense to prioritize securing the party’s nomination and planning last week’s widely heralded national convention in Chicago before pivoting to media interviews. Sitting jointly with Walz, they argue, is similar to joint interviews Trump has held with running mates JD Vance and Mike Pence. And members of the media, they say, tend to vastly overrate the importance of press access or a single television interview in the minds of voters.
“She had to compress what is normally a year-plus-long campaign into the course of weeks,” said Kara Turrentine, a national Democratic strategist. “The cadence of the last few months has been wild. Now that cadence has slowed down, the campaign is set and ready to go.”
Still, Trump has spent recent weeks badgering Harris to participate in more interviews and debates for a reason: any misstep or mistake could offer him a foothold as he seeks to reverse momentum in a race where polls show Democrats now in the lead.
“She’s not smart enough to do a news conference,” Trump said earlier in August, taunting Harris. “She won’t do interviews with friendly people because she can’t do better than Biden.”
‘Play to win’
For Harris, who gained a reputation as a prickly and defensive interview subject during tough exchanges on immigration and foreign policy earlier in her vice presidency, Thursday will be the first time she’s challenged publicly on some of the dramatic policy evolutions she’s undertaken from her 2020 presidential campaign.
The vice president needs to “play to win” by focusing on laying out her vision for the future and her career accomplishments, Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist, said Wednesday.
“Often politicians will find themselves trying not to make a mistake in certain situations,” Seawright said. “She’s got to run through the tape with this interview.”
The decision to appear alongside Walz at least fed Republican perceptions that Harris – or her staff – weren’t confident in her abilities.
Arkansas Governor and former Trump White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said it showed “they know Kamala Harris can’t get through an interview all by herself.”
“There is not a lot of confidence in somebody to become the leader of the free world and ask people to make her president of the United States,” Sanders said in an appearance on Fox News.
But, Turrentine said, the decision to appear alongside Walz would benefit Harris more than it hurt, with the pair appearing aligned and able to amplify each other’s best attributes.
“They represent this team that we don’t see on the other side,” she said. “On the Trump-Vance side, we see a very disjointed ticket. There’s no seeming coordination or sync between them in terms of how they are approaching this campaign.”
CNN picked
The choice of CNN for the interview may play to Harris’ favor.
Bash is widely seen as an even-handed and tough reporter, and the network earned praise – including from Trump – for their handling of the first presidential debate, which ultimately forced Biden from the race.
The vice president also would have likely taken flack if she had opted for an interview with NBC – considering MSNBC’s liberal programming – or ABC, where the news division is overseen by Walt Disney Co. executive Dana Walden, a longtime Harris friend.
CNN is also headquartered in Georgia, a critical battleground state where Harris and Walz are conducting a two-day bus tour aimed at boosting their standing with rural and Black voters that could prove pivotal in November.
But the interview is likely to reverberate far outside the state.
Even Quentin Tarantino, the famed director of Pulp Fiction, weighed in on the strategy during a podcast interview with comedian Bill Maher earlier this week, saying Harris should not endanger her mad dash to Election Day by engaging unnecessarily with the press.
“She is running it — she’s not stopping to stumble,” he said.
