WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris, who presents herself as the candidate of change as she runs for president against Republican Donald Trump, said Friday that she’s different from President Joe Biden because she offers “a new generation of leadership.”
In her first solo television interview since she became the Democratic presidential nominee, Harris also criticized the “hate and division that we see coming out of Donald Trump” and said she thinks people are “exhausted” by his style of leadership.
She also said she’s a gun owner and doesn’t want to take away anyone’s guns, but she believes a ban on assault-style weapons is necessary and consistent with the Second Amendment.
Anchor Brian Taff of WPVI-TV in Philadelphia asked Harris to describe one or two areas where she’s different from the president.
“Well, I’m obviously not Joe Biden” and “I offer a new generation of leadership,” Harris said, adding that things once taken for granted cannot be overlooked anymore.
“For example, another plan that I have that is a new approach is to expand the child tax credit to $6,000 for young families for the first year of their child’s life because that is obviously a very critical stage of development of child, and so my approach is about new ideas, new policies that are directed at the current moment,” she said. “And also, to be very honest with you, my focus is very much on what we need to do over the next 10, 20 years to catch up to the 21st century around, again, capacity but also challenges.”
The interview was conducted in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, as Harris campaigned there Friday.
Trump, his running mate Sen. JD Vance and other Republicans have criticized Harris for largely avoiding media interviews or interacting on the record with reporters who cover her campaign events. She and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, gave a joint interview to CNN last month. Her campaign recently said she will begin to do more local interviews, and the National Association of Black Journalists announced Friday that some of its members will interview Harris on Tuesday in Philadelphia.
Harris used a question about the former president’s appeal and how she would speak to his supporters to criticize Trump and his leadership style.
“I also believe that I am accurate in knowing that most Americans want a leader who brings us together as Americans and not someone who professes to be a leader who is trying to have us point our fingers at each other,” she said.
The vice president suggested that her support from Republican officials, including former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney, is a result of people being “exhausted” with Trump.
“I think people are more willing now, in light of the hate and division that we see coming out of Donald Trump to say, ‘Hey, let’s put country first’ and I think that just makes us stronger and more healthy as a country,” she said.
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
The vice president, 59, is a former San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and U.S. senator. She offered a few answers when asked to share one thing she would like people to know about her they don’t yet know.
“Probably it’s not very different from anybody watching right now,” she said. “I love my family. One of my favorite things that I lately have not been able to do is Sunday family dinner. I love to cook.”
Harris also said her best friend from kindergarten “is still my best friend.”