Vice President Kamala Harris could “play politics” by allowing her subordinates to take the lead rather than making major policy changes herself. republican strategist They say.
Anonymous Harris officials have announced a shift in her stance on key issues she supported during her 2019 presidential run, such as fracking and “Medicare for All,” but Harris herself has yet to say anything about her change in stance.
When Harris Campaign One political strategist told Fox News Digital that “anonymous campaign staffers in the background don’t take public policy positions, but candidates and elected officials do.”
“The American public should assume that every position taken by Harris during her last campaign for president and the positions taken by the Biden-Harris administration today are exactly hers, unless she herself provides clarification to the contrary,” American Majority-North Carolina state director Dallas Woodhouse told Fox.
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Democratic presidential candidate US Vice President Kamala Harris waits to speak at a campaign rally at the United Auto Workers Local 900 in Wayne, Michigan, on August 8, 2024. Kamala Harris and her newly elected running mate, Tim Walz, have been campaigning across the country this week. (Andrew Harnick)
“The American people will never accept a candidate who changes all of his positions stated just a few years ago without thorough investigation and explanation,” he said.
fracking
Harris has said she would ban fracking if elected for the first time — a key issue among a key voter group in battleground states such as Pennsylvania.
“There’s no doubt that I’m in favor of banning fracking; I have a history of working on this issue,” Harris said in 2020.
Republicans, including former president trumphas used his past comments on the issue to criticize him in multiple campaign ads since he launched his 2024 campaign.
The Democratic candidate’s campaign officials are now saying that Harris won’t ban fracking If she is elected president.
![Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz appear together for the first time in Philadelphia](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/08/1200/675/Kamala-Harris-And-Running-Mate-Tim-Walz-Make-First-Appearance-Together-In-Philadelphia.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Democratic presidential nominee, US Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Governor Tim Walz appear onstage together during a campaign event at Temple University’s Liacouras Center on August 6, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Andrew Harnick)
“Medicine for all”
Harris published her plan for “Medicare for All” during the 2019 presidential campaign, writing that her goal was “to end these senseless attacks on Obamacare” and that she believed “health care should be a right, not a privilege just for those who can afford it. That’s why we need Medicare for All.”
“The idea is that everyone should have access to medical care. And you don’t have to go through the process of going through the insurance company, getting approval from them, going through the paperwork, which can require all kinds of delays. Let’s get rid of that,” Harris wrote in 2019.
Additionally, then-Senator Harris co-sponsored the Medicare for All Act of 2019 with Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
Despite his previous support, a campaign official told Fox News Senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy said Harris will not push the “Medicare for All” theme in this election.
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Colin Read, a Republican strategist, former campaign manager and co-founder of South & Hill Strategies, told Fox News Digital that Harris’s turnaround seems hard to believe.
![WAYNE, MICHIGAN - AUGUST 08: Democratic presidential candidate US Vice President Kamala Harris addresses a campaign rally at United Auto Workers Local 900 on August 8, 2024 in Wayne, Michigan.](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/08/1200/675/kharris.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
WAYNE, MICHIGAN – AUGUST 08: Democratic presidential candidate US Vice President Kamala Harris addresses a campaign rally at United Auto Workers Local 900 on August 8, 2024 in Wayne, Michigan. (Andrew Harnick)
“When Vice President Harris ran for the White House five years ago, she was a sitting U.S. senator and the former attorney general of the largest state in the country. In other words, she was a highly successful person who had had a lot of time to form opinions on major issues on the national stage,” Reid told Fox. “The idea that she could change her opinion on major, major things over the course of five terms strains credibility,”
Reid highlighted his variation on “Medicare for All,” which he says “would cost $44 trillion — more than our entire $35 trillion national debt.”
“Either she was wrong then or she is playing politics now, and voters will find out when she decides to answer questions without any preparation,” Reed said.
This suggested stance change comes at a time when Republicans are using his past stances on issues like fracking against his 2024 presidential campaign.
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Fox News Digital asked the Harris campaign if she would personally announce her new stances on key issues.