Kamala Harris defends immigration shift, could name Republican to Cabinet

SAVANNAH, Georgia – Ms Kamala Harris defended some personal shifts in policy towards the centre on Aug 29 and said she might name a Republican to her Cabinet if elected, in her first interview with a mainstream news organisation since Democrats nominated her for president.

“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is that my values have not changed,” she told CNN anchor Dana Bash in an early excerpt from the interview broadcast at 9pm local time (9am on Aug 30 Singapore time).

Ms Harris has moved more towards the centre on some issues from the time she ran for president in 2020 until she took over from President Joe Biden as the Democrats’ choice to face Republican former president Donald Trump in the Nov 5 election.

She has toughened her position on immigration along the southern US border with Mexico. She also no longer wants a ban on fracking, an energy production method that employs many people in Pennsylvania, one of a handful of swing states that could decide the election.

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

Ms Harris’ conversation was aimed at showing her in command of the issues. Some critics suggested she may be less polished in unscripted settings after she led Democrats’ turnaround with a series of forceful campaign speeches.

Ms Harris, joined by her vice-presidential running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, also discussed the possibility of adding a Republican to her potential Cabinet, saying she wanted a diversity of opinion.

“I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made who 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,” she said.

The US Vice-President has eschewed formal interviews and press conferences during her rapid rise to the top of the Democratic ticket.

First one-on-one interview since Biden exit

Though Ms Harris has taken questions from journalists on the campaign trail and been interviewed on TikTok in recent days, she had, until Aug 29, not done a one-on-one interview with a major network or print journalist since President Biden ended his re-election campaign on July 21 and endorsed her. 

Asked on Aug 8 when she would do her first big interview, Ms Harris said she wanted to do one by the end of the month.

Ms Bash, who co-moderated the June 27 debate between Trump and Mr Biden that hastened the President’s departure from the race, conducted the interview in Savannah, Georgia, as Ms Harris and Mr Walz continued their bus tour of the battleground state.

Ms Harris’ lack of interviews has sparked criticism from opponents, and some concern among supporters, that she is less sharp in spontaneous settings than she is at rallies or speeches where prepared remarks and a teleprompter are at her disposal.

Trump frequently holds press conferences and offers interviews to conservative news outlets. He often uses them to criticise Ms Harris and Mr Biden rather than discuss his own policy aims in detail.

As Ms Harris’ bus caravan left her Savannah hotel on Aug 29, several dozen Trump supporters with signs and banners braved torrential rain to line the streets.

She and Mr Walz arrived at Kim’s Cafe, a black-owned restaurant, in the early afternoon to tape the interview.

Before Ms Harris picked him as her running mate for the Nov 5 election, Mr Walz did a string of interviews with major television networks. 

Ms Harris and Mr Walz kicked off their bus tour of Georgia on Aug 27 as they worked to woo voters in a state Mr Biden narrowly won in 2020, and which could play a decisive role in 2024’s election. REUTERS