Current:Home > FinanceHarris, Walz will sit down for first major television interview of their presidential campaign-InfoLens
Harris, Walz will sit down for first major television interview of their presidential campaign
View Date:2024-12-23 17:23:25
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will sit down Thursday for their first major television interview of their presidential campaign as the duo travels in southeast Georgia on a bus tour.
The interview with CNN’s Dana Bash will give Harris a chance to quell criticism that she has eschewed uncontrolled environments, while also giving her a fresh platform to define her campaign and test her political mettle ahead of an upcoming debate with former President Donald Trump set for Sept. 10. But it also carries risk as her team tries to build on momentum from the ticket shakeup following Joe Biden’s exit and last week’s Democratic National Convention.
Joint interviews during an election year are a fixture in politics; Biden and Harris, Trump and Mike Pence, Barack Obama and Biden — all did them at a similar point in the race. The difference is those other candidates had all done solo interviews, too. Harris hasn’t yet done an in-depth interview since she became her party’s standard bearer five weeks ago, though she did sit for several while she was still Biden’s running mate.
Harris and Walz remain somewhat unknown to voters, unlike Trump and Biden of whom voters had near-universal awareness and opinion.
The CNN interview, airing at 9 p.m. EDT Thursday, takes place during her two-day bus tour through southeast Georgia campaigning for the critical battleground state, a trip that culminates Thursday with a rally in Savannah. Harris campaign officials believe that in order to win the state over Trump in November, they must make inroads in GOP strongholds across the state.
Harris, during her time as vice president, has done on-camera and print interviews with The Associated Press and many other outlets, a much more frequent pace than the president — except for Biden’s late-stage media blitz following his disastrous debate performance that touched off the end of his campaign.
Harris’ lack of media access over the past month has become one of Republicans’ key attack lines. The Trump campaign has kept a tally of the days she has gone by as a candidate without giving an interview. On Wednesday, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s former press secretary, suggested Harris needed a “babysitter” and that’s why Walz would be there.
“They know Kamala Harris can’t get through an interview all by herself. There is not a lot of confidence in somebody to become the leader of the free world and ask people to make her president of the United States when she can’t even sit down (for) an interview,” she said on “Fox & Friends.”
Trump, meanwhile, has largely steered toward conservative media outlets when granting interviews, though he has held more open press conferences in recent weeks as he sought to reclaim the spotlight that Harris’ elevation had claimed.
After the CNN interview, Walz will peel off and Harris will continue the bus tour alone, heading to a rally before going back to Washington. On Wednesday, the duo visited a high school marching band to the delight of students, and stopped by a Savannah barbecue restaurant.
Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler said bus tours offer an “opportunity to get to places we don’t usually go (and) make sure we’re competing in all communities.”
What to know about the 2024 Election
- Today’s news: Follow live updates from the campaign trail from the AP.
- Ground Game: Sign up for AP’s weekly politics newsletter to get it in your inbox every Monday.
- AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Learn more.
The campaign wants the events to motivate voters in GOP-leaning areas who don’t traditionally see the candidates, and hopes that the engagements drive viral moments that cut through crowded media coverage to reach voters across the country.
The stops are meant as moments where voters can learn “not just what they stand for, but who they are as people,” Tyler said.
Harris has another campaign blitz on Labor Day with Biden in Detroit and Pittsburgh with the election just over 70 days away. The first mail ballots get sent to voters in just two weeks.
veryGood! (32624)
Related
- What happens to Donald Trump’s criminal conviction? Here are a few ways it could go
- EAGLEEYE COIN: Silicon Valley Bank Failures Favor Cryptocurrency and Precious Metals Markets
- Ryan Gosling, Billie Eilish, Jon Batiste set to perform at the Oscars
- States promise to help disabled kids. Why do some families wait a decade or more?
- Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul press conference highlights: 'Problem Child' goads 'Iron Mike'
- Big Little Lies Fans: Get Your First Look at Liane Moriarty’s Next Show Apples Never Fall
- FDA to develop new healthy logo this year – here's what consumers could see, and which foods could qualify
- In Arizona, abortion politics are already playing out on the Senate campaign trail
- US Open finalist Taylor Fritz talks League of Legends, why he hated tennis and how he copied Sampras
- Hunter Schafer was among protestors arrested during President Joe Biden’s appearance on ‘Late Night’
Ranking
- Ariana Grande's Brunette Hair Transformation Is a Callback to Her Roots
- Bradley Cooper Shares He’s Not Sure He Would Be Alive If Not for Daughter Lea
- After 10 years of development, Apple abruptly cancels its electric car project
- 1 person injured when Hawaii tour helicopter crashes on remote Kauai beach
- Nevada trial set for ‘Dances with Wolves’ actor in newly-revived sex abuse case
- She wanted a space for her son, who has autism, to explore nature. So, she created a whimsical fairy forest.
- Justice Department finds problems with violence, gangs and poor conditions in 3 Mississippi prisons
- Caitlin Clark, Iowa look for revenge, another scoring record: Five women's games to watch
Recommendation
-
Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn is ending her retirement at age 40 to make a skiing comeback
-
Expert in Old West firearms says gun wouldn’t malfunction in fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin
-
West Virginia Senate OKs bill requiring schools to show anti-abortion group fetal development video
-
US economy grew solid 3.2% in fourth quarter, a slight downgrade from government’s initial estimate
-
UFC 309: Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic fight card, odds, how to watch, date
-
Crystal Kung Minkoff on wearing PJs in public, marriage tips and those 'ugly leather pants'
-
SF apology to Black community: 'Important step' or 'cotton candy rhetoric'?
-
How often is leap year? Here's the next leap day after 2024 and when we'll (eventually) skip one