Photo: Saul Loeb Agence France-Presse U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz in Savannah, Georgia, Wednesday
Benoit Valois-Nadeau
Published yesterday at 16:23 Updated yesterday at 23:02
- United States
First test met. Kamala Harris appeared in full control of her image and her words despite some obvious about-faces, Thursday evening, during her first televised interview since entering the presidential campaign, on CNN.
Calm, composed, but also energetic at times, the vice-president and Democratic candidate for the American presidential election took advantage of this meeting to position herself in the continuity of the current president, Joe Biden, while effectively defending her own changes in positions over time.
“The most important and significant thing about my plans and my political decisions is that my values have not changed,” she insisted.
Ms. Harris, who was interviewed alongside her running mate Tim Walz, notably managed to fend off questions about her change of direction on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), an important issue in Pennsylvania, a key state in the 2024 elections.
In 2019, when she was trying to win the Democratic primaries, she spoke out against this polluting method of extracting hydrocarbons denounced by environmental defenders. However, she went back on her word the following year by becoming Joe Biden's running mate.
“I’ve always believed […] that climate change is real, that it’s an urgent issue,” the 59-year-old Democratic candidate said. “We can grow and develop a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking.”
The same pattern has played out on the issue of immigration, a thorny issue at the center of the current campaign. Also during her 2019 presidential campaign, Harris raised the idea of decriminalizing illegal border crossings.
“My belief about our need to secure the border [with Mexico] has not changed,” she said, promising “consequences” for those who enter the United States illegally if she were elected to the White House.
“I think there should be consequences. We have laws that must be respected and enforced. As president, I will uphold our laws,” she promised.
Sometimes known as being difficult to interview, Kamala Harris also had to make people forget the painful memory of the interview on the subject of immigration that she gave in 2021 to journalist Lester Holt of NBC News.
Visibly ill-prepared and unsure of herself, the vice president then seemed disconcerted when Holt asked her why she had not yet visited the border with Mexico to see the effects of the migration crisis.
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Tribute to Biden
Asked to present her policies on Day 1 of her potential presidency, Ms. Harris focused on “helping the middle class,” her top priority. She notably committed to reducing the cost of basic products and supporting young families, notably through tax measures for affordable housing.
The American vice-president also reiterated her support for Israel in the conflict opposing it to Hamas, but also launched an appeal for a ceasefire.
“Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed, we need to come to an agreement. This war has to end,” she said. Harris also spoke out in favor of a two-state solution, “so that Israel is safe and the Palestinians have access to self-determination and security.”
This position places her in continuity with that of Joe Biden, for whom the candidate had excellent words throughout the interview.
“I do not regret having supported him. He is an intelligent man and loyal to the American people. I spent hours with him in the White House and let me tell you, he has the intelligence, the judgment and the commitment that the American people deserve.”
While she has not missed an opportunity to attack her opponent Donald Trump and his record, Kamala Harris has still shown herself open to appointing a Republican to her potential cabinet.
“I have built my career on encouraging diversity of thought,” she said. “I believe it is important, when important decisions are being made, to have people with different opinions and experiences. And I believe it would be beneficial to the American public to have a Republican in my cabinet.”
Democratic President Barack Obama is the latest to tap a member of the opposing party, having chosen to retain Robert Gates, previously appointed by George W. Bush, as Secretary of Defense. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have also done the same in the past.
Plot twist
The interview took place in Savannah, Georgia, where she is campaigning, and was conducted by CNN reporter Dana Bash, who moderated the Joe Biden-Donald Trump debate in June, a debate that was disastrous for the Democrat and eventually led to his exit from the presidential race.
This first television interview comes as Harris appears to have closed the gap that separated the Democratic and Republican camps in the polls before she entered the race. The latest poll conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Reuters even gives the Democrat a 4-point lead (45%) over Donald Trump (41%) at the national level.
An Economist YouGov poll even indicates a 13-point lead for Kamala Harris in voting intentions among women (51% against 38%).
After this interview, the next expected highlight of this extraordinary election campaign will be the debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, held on September 10 in Pennsylvania, on ABC.
With Agence France-Presse