Harris gets personal in media blitz, balks at breaking with Biden on policy

Vice President Kamala Harris navigates media appearances, loyalty to President Biden, and personal revelations in campaign outreach.

The U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris wanted to help voters get to know her better with a cascade of media appearances Tuesday (October 8, 2024), but the most lasting impression might have been her unwillingness to break with the U.S. President Joe Biden.

Asked on ABC’s “The View” how she would be different from the President she’s served under for four years, Ms. Harris said “We’re obviously two different people” and “I will bring those sensibilities to how I lead.”

However, she was not able to identify a decision where she would have gone another way. “There is not a thing that comes to mind,” Ms. Harris said.

The exchange encapsulated Ms. Harris’ struggle to portray herself as a candidate who can deliver the change voters crave while also remaining loyal to the current administration. Some Ms. Harris aides privately winced as gleeful Republicans swiftly circulated clips of her response and Donald Trump swiped at her in a social media post, calling it “her dumbest answer so far.”

It wasn’t until later in the show that Ms. Harris named something that she would do differently than Mr. Biden — she would put a Republican in her Cabinet.

The Democratic nominee said she would welcome contributions from the other party “because I don’t feel burdened by letting pride get in the way of a good idea.”

The interview was a reminder that friendly media venues — the women of “The View” were nearly rapturous in their embrace of Ms. Harris — can be as treacherous for politicians to navigate as hardball journalistic interrogations. And it came at a delicate moment for Ms. Harris, whose motorcade whisked her from studio to studio in New York on Tuesday (October 8, 2024).