Five key questions Kamala Harris should answer during first interview

Kamala Harris will sit down for her first unscripted interview with the media on Thursday—here are five topics Newsweek thinks she will be asked about.

The Vice President will be interviewed by CNN, alongside her running mate Tim Walz, in Georgia, where she is currently on a bus tour. The interview is with CNN’s chief political correspondent and anchor Dana Bash and will be aired at 9 p.m. ET.

This is a big moment for the Democratic campaign, especially as Harris has long faced criticism for not doing an interview with the media since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed her as his replacement.

Harris’ willingness to do an interview with the media will likely be one of the main things she is asked about, along with the economy, the border and immigration, her policies on topics such as fracking and women’s issues and abortion.

Talking to The Media

The last time Harris did anything close to an interview with the media, was on June 24, 2024, when she spoke to MSNBC’s Morning Joe to discuss how the then-Biden campaign was preparing to go after Republicans on abortion rights. Newsweek has compiled a list of her media appearances since then here.

“This interview is pivotal for Harris precisely because she has been dodging the press for weeks,” Associate Professor of Political Science at London’s UCL School of Public Policy, Thomas Gift told Newsweek.

He said: “It’s a not unreasonable expectation that candidates should make themselves available to the media. The fact that Harris hasn’t raises the stakes of any interview she does give.

“Even after this evening’s joint appearance with Tim Walz, detractors will persist in claiming that Harris should be willing to face tough questions on her own. It’s hard not to think that Harris’s avoidance of the press reflects a lack of confidence in her ability to perform in unscripted settings.”

Some Democratic analysts and talking heads have argued Harris’ lack of interviews or press conferences is part of a specific media strategy.

“The vice president is showing all of us that you don’t need to do high-profile interviews or press conferences in order to get attention from the media or from voters,” Democratic strategist Christy Setzer told The Hill.

The Economy

Multiple polls show that the economy is an important issue for Americans, with 83 percent of respondents to a recent CBS News/YouGov poll saying they believe it is a major factor in this election.

Harris has revealed several of her proposed economic policies, which include raising the level of tax levied on corporations, ending taxes on tipped income and expanding current child tax credit provisions. Newsweek has broken down what she hopes to achieve with her tax policies here.

Earlier this month, Harris told supporters at a campaign rally in North Carolina that she wanted to build an “opportunity economy.”

“Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency because I strongly believe when the middle class is strong, America is strong,” she said.

Harris has also unveiled a plan to offer $25,000 in financial assistance to first-time homebuyers, as well as build 3 million new homes over four years in an effort to curb inflation.

“Vice President Harris knows we need to do more to address our housing crisis and that’s why she has a plan to end the housing shortage” and will crack down on “corporate landlords and Wall Street banks hiking up rents and housing costs,” Dan Kanninen, the campaign’s battleground states director, told the Associated Press.

Critics have doubts about these ideas, with Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary calling them part of “Kamalanomics.”

Harris’ opponent, Donald Trump, at an August 19, 2024, rally in York, Pennsylvania: “She has no clue how’d she paid for $25,000 to every first-time homebuyer, including illegals.”

The Border and Immigration

Immigration is another major issue for American voters, with Republicans often hammering Democrats for what they say is being soft on the border.

RNC spokesperson Taylor Rogers previously told Newsweek: “While failed border czar Kamala Harris adopts the Biden Basement strategy to hide from the illegal immigrant invasion created by her radical policies, President Trump will be visiting the southern border again.”

Republicans have branded Harris the “border czar,” despite her never being given that title. Harris was tasked by President Joe Biden with addressing the “root cause” of migration to the U.S. from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, which resulted in Harris securing $4.2 billion in private-sector investments for employment opportunities in Central America.

But Harris is also facing heat from the left, who fear the Democrats shifting to the right with their immigration policies.

She has promised to reintroduce the bipartisan border bill and be tough when it comes to enforcement and she has also said at recent rallies that she wanted to shore up paths to citizenship for immigrants.

Harris will likely be asked about a resurfaced video from October 2019, where she says she would close privately-run immigration detention “on day one.”

Policies in General

Harris will almost certainly be asked to clear up her position on multiple issues in general, especially environmental ones.

When Harris ran for the presidential nomination in 2020, she vowed to ban fracking and back a Green New Deal which would work to shift the U.S. to 100 percent renewable energy.

As video of these comments resurfaced, Harris’ campaign officials confirmed that she would not ban fracking—to The Guardian and several other newspapers.

As vice president, Harris has essentially toed the Biden administration’s line on fracking.

Just a few days ago, Trump wrote on Truth Social that it is “very difficult for her to defend her record-setting Flip-Flopping on absolutely everything she once believed in.”

Women’s Issues and Abortion

Women’s issues and abortion have been major topics in the campaigns running up to the November election, with Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, facing multiple controversies about his resurfaced comments.

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has also set the stage for candidates to focus on abortion, with the Democrats often warning about what a Republican White House could mean for abortion rights.

Harris has consistently supported women’s rights to an abortion and has been an advocate for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence throughout her career. Newsweek has laid out where she stands on some key women’s issues here.

Newsweek has contacted Harris and Trump via email for any further comment.