Kamala Harris says ‘my values ​​haven’t changed’ in first interview as candidate… despite changing many of her policies since 2020

Kamala Harris claimed that her values ​​“have not changed,” despite the various policy positions she has taken since her time in the Senate so far.

“I think the most important and meaningful aspect of my policy vision and decisions is that my values ​​have not changed,” she told CNN’s Dana Bash in her first interview since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.

CNN aired portions of the interview on Thursday, shortly after it was recorded. The full interview, described as “wide-ranging,” will air at 9 p.m. ET.

During the meeting, Harris also said that if elected, she would appoint a Republican to serve in her Cabinet.

“No one in particular in mind. We have 68 days until the election and I’m not going to put the cart before the horse,” she said.

And she brushed aside Donald Trump’s question about her racial identity when he suggested she “just happened to be black.”

“Same old, worn-out script,” she said. “Next question, please.”

Tim Walz and Kamala Harris were in Savannah, Georgia, with CNN’s Dana Bash

But the segment of the interview that aired focused on her policy positions as a presidential candidate.

Some of her positions, particularly on environmental issues, have shifted from the progressive end of the Democratic Party to a more centrist position. She has also walked back her claims that she led on the border.

Harris has been vocal in his opposition to Donald Trump’s border wall, but as president he has also pledged to sign a bipartisan border security bill that includes $650 million to build and reinforce miles of new border wall.

“My value around what we need to do to secure our border. That value hasn’t changed. I spent two terms as Attorney General of California prosecuting transnational criminal organizations that violated U.S. laws related to the illegal movement of guns, drugs and people across our border,” she noted.

Border crossings have hit record lows as the Biden administration passed a measure in the bipartisan Senate bill that would allow border officials to quickly turn back migrants when crossings exceed a certain level. Biden used a presidential proclamation to get it passed.

Additionally, Harris initially supported a ban on fracking, but now says she will not implement it as president.

“You mentioned the Green New Deal. I’ve always believed, and I’ve worked to make it so, that the climate crisis is real, that it’s an urgent issue that we need to apply metrics to that mean we hold ourselves to deadlines,” she told CNN.

And in the wake of the 2020 killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by a Minneapolis police officer, Harris praised then-Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for shifting $150 million from the LAPD budget into separate programs aimed at creating jobs and expanding access to health care, particularly in minority communities.

Now that she is running for president, her campaign is downplaying her previous support for cutting law enforcement funding, or as Republicans call it, “defunding the police.”

Harris has worked in the public sector for decades and her support base has expanded beyond the liberal city of San Francisco to the national level.

She started as a district attorney in San Francisco, became California attorney general, then U.S. senator, ran for president in 2020, and became vice president under President Joe Biden.

It took 37 days since she launched her campaign for a sit-down interview to take place. It happened at Kim’s Cafe, a local restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, run by a black man.

Harris is on a campaign bus tour of the state.

She was joined in the interview by her running mate Tim Walz. Republicans criticized her running mate’s participation, saying it showed she couldn’t be grilled on her own.

Harris’ campaign pushed back, pointing to the long tradition of presidential candidates and their running mates holding joint interviews.

Republicans have also criticized her for waiting so long to give an interview and for changing her policy positions.

Kamala Harris listens during a stop at Dottie’s Market in Savannah, Ga., as part of her bus tour

In the interview, Kamala Harris responded to Donald Trump’s question about her black heritage, which he did above in an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists

Harris was nominated after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race in late July following a dismal debate with Donald Trump, raising questions about his fitness for the job.

Harris has made big strides in the polls to overtake Trump, compared to how Biden was doing.

According to the latest polls, both states are evenly splitting the swing states.

Of the seven states that weigh the most, Arizona, North Carolina and Wisconsin are winning for Trump, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada for Harris, and Pennsylvania is the frontrunner.

There are 93 Electoral College votes up for grabs among the seven competing states, but the results of a new Emerson College Polling/The Hill Poll It was announced on Thursday that the two are evenly matched.