Harris and Walz sit for interview with CNN, their first as Democratic nominees

Washington — Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday insisted her “values have not changed” when explaining several shifts in her policy positions and vowed to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet in her first interview since becoming the Democratic nominee for president.

Harris and Walz sat down with CNN’s Dana Bash in Georgia on Thursday for their first joint interview, as they blitz battleground states in an effort to win over undecideds and increase Democratic voter turnout. The duo were on a two-day bus tour in Georgia, a state they hope to keep in the Democratic column in November.

Harris has faced increasing pressure to answer unfiltered questions from the media since she ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket after President Biden dropped out in July. The full interview airs at 9 p.m. ET on CNN, and the network released the first clip of the sit-down in the afternoon.

Bash asked Harris what her policy positions are now versus what they were when she was running for president in the 2020 campaign, specifically on matters like immigration and energy, and how voters can feel confident in her positions moving forward. Harris once vocally supported banning fracking and endorsed a set of energy policies known as the Green New Deal, but has been more muted on the matter lately. She has also backed off her support for a single-payer health care system and has emphasized the importance of border security, vowing to sign a bipartisan border bill in her speech at the Democratic National Convention.

Harris told CNN’s Bash that her “values have not changed.” 

“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is, my values have not changed,” Harris responded. “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. We did that with the Inflation Reduction Act. 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.”

Harris continued: “My value around what we need to secure our border, that value has not changed. I spent two terms as the attorney general of California prosecuting transnational criminal organizations, violations of American laws regarding the passage, illegal passage, of guns, drugs and human beings across the border. My values have not changed.”

She also said she would appoint a Republican member of her Cabinet, according to CNN, which has not yet released the clip of that exchange.

“I’ve got 68 days to go with this election, so I’m not putting the cart before the horse,” Harris said. “But I would, I think. I think it’s really important. I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion. I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican.”

For weeks after Harris became the presumptive nominee for president, Harris faced questions about when she would sit down for a news conference or hold a press conference. News organizations have long been requesting interviews, but she has stuck to the campaign trail, rarely taking questions from reporters.