Vice President Kamala Harris has not held a formal press conference for 16 days since becoming president. Potential Democratic presidential nominee Till Tuesday.
Harris became the de facto nominee after she decided to drop out of the race when President Biden endorsed her on July 21, and she officially clinched the nomination last week. She’s stayed busy during the campaign, speaking at events and giving informal remarks to reporters at various points, but she hasn’t held any formal press conferences or in-depth interviews in the past 16 days.
She also did not attend the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago, where former President Trump made headlines with a heated question-and-answer session on Wednesday, though she may appear with the group in the future. On Thursday, she briefly addressed reporters at Joint Base Andrews when she and Biden were greeting Americans released from Russia in a massive prisoner swap, including Wall Street Journal reporter Ivan Gershkovich.
Now, she’s set to run against former President Trump as his running mate in November. She’ll make her choice on Tuesday and will appear with him at a rally in Philadelphia this evening.
Harris has been so elusive that The New York Times published excerpts from an interview she did last year to see “where her answers stand now.” Some critics have compared the strategy so far to what some have called Biden’s “basement” approach in 2020.
Kamala Harris supporters uncertain when asked about vice president’s policy accomplishments
Vice President Kamala Harris has not held a single press conference in more than two weeks since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Much of the Democratic Party — including governors, senators and House members, as well as party leaders — united behind Harris after Biden’s blockbuster news. But critics have begun to notice that Harris hasn’t faced tough questions since then.
National Review senior writer Noah Rothman asked his social media followers on Wednesday, “When is Kamala Harris going to hold a press conference?”
“The most revealing thing for a candidate is a long press conference — and that’s exactly what Harris needs to do. In fact, we Know “This is what he must do, because just weeks ago, this is what Democratic political professionals and their allies insisted Biden should do,” he wrote in National Review.
How long will Kamala Harris’ honeymoon last in the elections against Donald Trump?
NewsBusters executive editor Tim Graham hopes she follows President Biden’s 2020 strategy, when he was accused of hiding in his basement during the Covid pandemic.
“Kamala Harris should certainly hold a press conference. That’s to be expected when she names her vice presidential running mate. But we can’t expect her to give up Biden’s habit of consistently avoiding press conferences,” Graham said. Fox News Digital.
He added, “Since the 2020 campaign, we have witnessed the bizarre spectacle of Donald Trump granting extensive access to networks that suggest he is a fascist and attack him daily, while Biden and Harris will not grant interviews to media outlets that rave about them and their ‘historic accomplishments.’” “Either they think the press can never be servile enough or they are demonstrating a complete lack of confidence in their attempts to put complete sentences together.”
100 days are left for the election to be held in November, the status of the election
Critics have noted that Vice President Kamala Harris has not held a formal press conference since President Biden’s re-election campaign ended. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
Jeffrey McCall, a media studies professor at DePauw University, believes the Harris campaign is “well aware that Biden dodged the media during his 2020 campaign and still got elected.”
“The Harris camp is also well aware that their candidate doesn’t perform well in an unscripted setting, not to mention that she’ll have to defend some of her positions, past statements, and record in a press conference or legitimate interview. Thus, reenacting Biden’s basement campaign sounds pretty darn good, provided you include some rallies as well.” Megan Thee Stallion“It’s so sad,” McCaul said, referring to the rapper who appeared at Harris’ Atlanta rally on Tuesday.
He suggested Harris “is under no pressure to do a press conference just because she got the nomination” because Democrats would support her either way.
“The supporters who have rallied around her don’t expect her to be accountable and have no interest in her policy positions and so on,” McCaul said. “It’s enough for her supporters that she’s not like Biden or Trump.”
“However, from a rhetorical strategy perspective, it would be appropriate for Harris to actually hold a press conference and do a real journalistic interview,” he added. “It seems likely that at some point she will have to appeal to moderates or undecided voters who want to see her ask questions.”
The Harris campaign has not responded to requests for comment.
The Democratic National Convention is set to begin on August 19 in Chicago.
Click here to get the Fox News app
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
