Vice President Kamala Harris‘ first solo TV interview since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee will be a pre-taped conversation that will air on an ABC affiliate in Philadelphia.
Harris will take questions from Action News 6 ABC anchor Brian Taff and the interview will air Friday during the station’s 6:00 p.m. broadcast, according to Axios reporter Alex Thompson. The vice president’s only major interview since becoming the Democratic nominee was with CNN’s Dana Bash late last month, which Harris did alongside her running mate Gov. Tim Walz. That interview was also pre-taped.
Harris has been criticized by her opponents and some in the media for refusing to hold more interviews and press conferences and directly inform voters of her policy positions. Trump, meanwhile, has held dozens of interviews and press conferences since Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris on July 21.
Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha told NBC News on Thursday that Harris “should do as many interviews as possible in battleground states,” adding that “the rest is a waste of time.”
“[National] interviews mean nothing to persuading voters,” Rocha said. “Media is too broad now for this to matter. Thirty years ago, though, when there were just three channels, it mattered more.”
Another Democratic strategist urged Harris to sit down for more interviews “because people still don’t know enough about her.”
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“It’s going to take a lot more than one debate and one CNN interview to scratch the itch,” the strategist told NBC. “Voters want to know whom they’re going to vote for and what they stand for and want to see them tested. It’s a dangerous strategy of trying to do four-corners defense when there’s still a lot of clock left in the game.”
Pennsylvania is a vital battleground state in the 2024 election with both the Trump and Harris campaigns spending a lot of time talking to voters and holding rallies there. Polls show Harris and Trump tied in Pennsylvania, according to RealClearPolitics as of Friday afternoon.