Kamala Harris on Thursday defended her policy shifts on key issues, insisting that her “values haven’t changed” in her first interview of her campaign for the US presidency.
The 59-year-old Democrat also said she would add a Republican to her Cabinet if she wins the November election, in a CNN interview with fellow candidate Tim Walz.
Rival Donald Trump labelled the US vice-president the “biggest flip-flopper” while addressing a rally in the state of Michigan.
Harris said her position on fracking, which she previously opposed, has changed and that she has become more tough on illegal immigration at the Mexican border.
“I think the most important and most important aspect of my policy approach and decisions is that my values haven’t changed,” Harris said in an excerpt of the interview to CNN. The full version of the interview will be shown at 9 pm (0100 GMT on Friday).
Republicans had criticized Harris for not granting any interviews since she dropped out of the White House race against President Joe Biden nearly six weeks ago.
Harris has enjoyed a honeymoon period with rising polling and record fundraising, but she has also faced scrutiny for keeping many of her policies vague.
But in a sign of unity, she said that if she were elected, having a Republican in her Cabinet would be “beneficial for the American people.”
The first female, black and South Asian vice president in US history meanwhile dismissed Trump’s comments that questioned her racial identity, calling them “the same old, worn-out tactics.”
Harris gave the interview during a campaign bus tour of Georgia, one of seven battleground states expected to decide the Nov. 5 election.
‘intense competition’
Several polls released on Thursday showed Harris ahead of Trump, albeit by a narrow margin, and many of those polls showed a surge in support for Harris in battleground states.
A Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll found Harris leading in six of seven key states, while a Fox poll also showed her support growing across the electoral field.
At a rally in Savannah at the end of the two-day election in Georgia, which Democrats flipped from Trump in 2020, he acknowledged it was “going to be a tight race until the end.”
Trump himself has been engaged in a vigorous campaign in recent days, as the 78-year-old former president struggles to strengthen his position against a new, young, female candidate.
Speaking at an event in Potterville, Michigan, on Thursday, Trump attacked Harris over her immigration policy changes: “Now she’s saying, ‘Oh we want to build a strong border.’
“Where was she for three and a half years?”
Yet both Trump and Harris seem to be pointing toward a middle path.
Trump said in an interview with NBC News on Thursday that if he is elected the government or insurance companies would cover the cost of in vitro fertilization (IVF) for Americans.
Reproductive rights have been a major weakness for Trump, as the Supreme Court struck down federal protections for access to abortion in 2022, and an Alabama court ruled in February that frozen embryos created through IVF should be considered children.
Meanwhile, Harris’ speech focused on the cost of living. She reiterated her pledge to give families a tax cut in the first year of a child’s life “to help afford a car seat, a crib or baby clothing.”
His CNN interview has been closely watched this year, with major political events showing his ability to surprise, such as Biden’s debate failure on June 27 that led to his withdrawal from the race.
Harris and Trump will face off in their first pivotal debate on September 10 in Philadelphia.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)