Since she emerged as the presumptive Democratic nominee in late July, Vice President Kamala Harris has disappeared from public view.
CNN political analyst and Axios national political reporter Alex Thompson also suggested that Harris could be avoiding the press since she has a record of having difficulty in tough live interviews.
“The question is, who is it with? Is it with a much more friendly host? Is it with a more serious, like a serious in-depth interview, how long is it, is it edited, is it live? Like all of these questions are part of Harris’ caution, extraordinary caution when it comes to interviews is why some Democrats were nervous about making her the nominee. It’s why people like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer were more in favor of an open process because the fact is that almost all of her worst moments as vice president have come in live interviews,” Thompson said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2dQV9hwaQs&list=RDNSC2dQV9hwaQs&start_radio=1
Matt Gorman, a former adviser to Senator Tim Scott on his presidential campaign said that while Harris should probably do more media availability than she does now — particularly in this new era of social confirmation for nominees — it was understandable why the vice president preferred not.
“The other side of this is that, look I‘ve seen this with candidate after candidate, debate prep is also media prep. Media prep is debate prep. You hear the lines, you can refine your arguments, you get better. Every candidate I‘ve ever worked with gets better the more they do interviews, because they get sharper and they know what really, outside of the bubble, what the people are going to attack them on or question them on,” Gorman said.
Meghan Hays, who served in the Biden White House, posited that Harris does not necessarily need to do interviews.
“I think it’s a media story, right? And I think that if you don’t take control of it, it will just continue to snowball in the media, and then it becomes more of a high-stakes thing than if you just did the interview. So where now she’s passed the convention, she has the momentum, they’ve raised a ton of money. I think she should probably sit down for an interview,” she said.
Harris rejected a TIME magazine hit piece on her just last week, despite receiving an slobbering cover from the publication.
