Vice President Kamala Harris was seen reassuring that her values have not changed when she was questioned by CNN's Dana Bash on whether some of her recent shifts in policy positions have come from a change in her values. Harris, on Thursday, sat for her first press interview since becoming the Democratic Party nominee in July. CNN has released a snippet of the interview where this conversation between Bash and Harris takes place.
Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz were interviewed by Bash at the CNN studios in Atlanta, Georgia. The duo has been on a bus tour through southeastern Georgia, a key swing state in the race to the White House in November. CNN will broadcast the interview at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday.
In the snippet, Dana Bash asked Kamala Harris: "Speaking of how voters should look at some of the changes you've made in your policy, is it because you have more experience now and have learned more information? Or is it because you were running for president in a Democratic primary?
"And should they feel comfortable and confident that what you're saying now will be your policy moving forward?"
To which Harris replied by saying that "the most important aspect of [her] policy perspective and decisions is that her "values have not changed."
"I have always believed, and have worked on it, that the climate crisis is real and that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics, including holding ourselves to deadlines," she said.
"We did that with the Inflation Reduction Act, setting goals for the United States and, by extension, the globe on when we should meet certain standards for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, for example. That value has not changed."
She then explained that her stance on border security has also not changed. "I spent two terms as the Attorney General of California prosecuting transnational criminal organizations and violations of American laws regarding the illegal passage of guns, drugs and human beings across our border. My values have not changed."