Harris and Walz to sit with CNN for exclusive first joint interview since campaign began

U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at the Liacouras Center at Temple University on Aug. 6, 2024 in Philadelphia. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will sit with CNN for their first joint interview on Thursday as Democrats work to broaden their base’s excitement from last week’s Democratic National Convention. 

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The interview, conducted by CNN’s chief political correspondent and anchor Dana Bash, will air at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday. It occurs as the candidates embark on a bus tour through the battleground state of Georgia and marks the first time Harris has sat with a journalist for an in-depth, on-the-record conversation since President Joe Biden dropped his bid for a second term and endorsed her on July 21.

The 37 days since her candidacy began have generated a swell of enthusiasm and momentum for Harris, including at last week’s convention in Chicago. But her lack of a formal news conference or interview has generated criticism from her Republican rivals. Thursday’s interview fulfils a vow she made earlier in August to schedule a sit-down before the end of the month.

With the interview, Harris’ extraordinarily truncated campaign is entering a new, post-convention phase. Her team is anticipating more scrutiny as she and Walz enter the final weeks before early voting begins. Harris has also been preparing for a September 10 debate with her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump.

Over the past several weeks, Harris has responded to some shouted questions from reporters as she campaigns in battleground states. She also sat for three interviews with content creators and influencers during the DNC last week – an example of her campaign’s belief that voters, especially young voters, are getting their news from less traditional sources.

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That has done little to dampen criticism, issued most sharply by the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, for going more than a month as the Democratic Party’s standard bearer without facing the scrutiny that comes with a sit-down interview with a journalist. Vance and Trump have held numerous media availabilities during the same time. 

“I think it’s really disgraceful, both for Kamala Harris but also for a lot of the American media that participates in this stuff, to have a person who has been the presumptive nominee of the Democrat Party for 17 days and refuses to take a single question from the American media,” Vance said in Wisconsin earlier this month.

Some of Vance’s and Trump’s media interactions, however, have presented problems for both candidates – with Vance having to explain past statements he made about childless women and Trump questioning Harris’ racial identity and falsely accusing his biracial opponent of only recently presenting herself as Black. Those are exactly the kinds of unforced media errors the Harris campaign may have been seeking to avoid.

The interview will present Harris with the first chance to elucidate her position on various domestic and foreign issues during a campaign that has so far been heavy on vibes but light on concrete policy. She will also have a chance – if she chooses – to explain how her positions might differ from Biden.

Previous major interviews have presented a challenge for Harris. During a 2021 sit-down with NBC’s Lester Holt, Harris responded with annoyance when asked why she had not visited the US-Mexico border as part of her assignment to investigate root causes of migration from Central and South America.

“At some point, you know, we are going to the border,” Harris said in the interview. “We’ve been to the border. So, this whole, this whole, this whole thing about the border. We’ve been to the border. We’ve been to the border.”

Holt responded: “You haven’t been to the border.”

“I, and I haven’t been to Europe. And I mean, I don’t – I don’t understand the point that you’re making,” Harris said with a laugh. She added: “I’m not discounting the importance of the border.”

More recent interviews have shown Harris on steadier ground. In the moments following the disastrous June 27 debate that would eventually torpedo Biden’s hopes for a second term, Harris sat for an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper and presented a strong defense of the president’s performance – being one of the very few Biden allies who publicly remained staunchly in his corner.