Harris Rejects ‘Flip-Flop’ Claims in First Campaign Interview

AFP/APP

United States: Kamala Harris defended her policy shifts on key issues Thursday, insisting in the first interview of her US presidential campaign that her “values have not changed.

” The 59-year-old Democrat also stated that she would name a Republican to her cabinet if she wins November’s election, in her joint CNN sit-down with her running mate, Tim Walz.

Rival Donald Trump branded the US vice president the “greatest flip-flopper” during a rally in the swing state of Michigan.

Harris acknowledged that her positions had evolved on issues such as fracking, which she previously opposed, and illegal migration over the Mexican border, on which she has taken a tougher stance.

“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” Harris said in an excerpt from the CNN interview. The full version is scheduled to air at 9 pm (0100 GMT Friday).

Republicans had criticized Harris for not giving any interviews since President Joe Biden dropped out of the White House race nearly six weeks ago.

Despite this, Harris has enjoyed a honeymoon period with surging polls and record fundraising, though she has faced scrutiny for keeping many of her policies vague. In a gesture of unity, she mentioned it would be to the “benefit of the American public” to have a Republican in her cabinet if elected.

Harris also dismissed Trump’s recent comments questioning her racial identity, calling them the “same old, tired playbook.”

Harris gave the interview while on a campaign bus tour of Georgia, one of the seven battleground states expected to decide the November 5 election.

‘Tight Race’

Several polls released Thursday showed Harris ahead of Trump, albeit marginally, with increased support for Harris in battleground states. A Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll found Harris leading in six out of seven swing states, while a Fox poll also showed rising support in these battlegrounds.

At a rally in Savannah, concluding a two-day swing in Georgia—a state Democrats flipped from Trump in 2020—Harris admitted it would be “a tight race until the very end.” Trump has been hitting the campaign trail hard recently, after a period where the 78-year-old former president seemed to struggle against a new, younger, female candidate.

Speaking at an event in Potterville, Michigan, on Thursday, Trump targeted Harris on her immigration policy shifts: “Now she’s saying, ‘Oh we want to build a strong border.’ Where has she been for three and a half years?”

Both Trump and Harris appear to be making gestures towards the center ground. Trump said in an interview with NBC News Thursday that if elected, either the government or insurance companies would cover the cost of in vitro fertilization (IVF) for Americans. Reproductive rights have been a major vulnerability for Trump since the Supreme Court gutted federal protections for abortion access in 2022, and an Alabama court ruled in February that frozen embryos created via IVF should be considered children.

Harris’s speech focused on the cost of living. She reiterated her pledge to provide tax cuts to families in the first year of a child’s life “to help pay for that car seat, or the crib, or the baby clothes.”

Her CNN interview is being closely watched in a year where major political events have shown their capacity to produce surprises, such as Biden’s debate disaster on June 27 that led to his withdrawal from the race. Harris and Trump are set to face off in their pivotal first debate on September 10 in Philadelphia.