It has been over two weeks since Vice President Kamala Harris emerged as the Democratic nominee, and in that time, she has not granted a single interview or held a press conference. This sets a new low for candidate transparency in an already unprecedented election cycle.
Harris has enjoyed what could be called a honeymoon period. The mainstream media has been fawning over her candidacy, with immediate comparisons to Barack Obama’s political rise and attempts to reframe her frequent verbal blunders as charming or meme-worthy. She has seen a tightening in the polls against former President Trump, and this favorable treatment is likely to continue with the selection of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate and the upcoming DNC convention, which typically provides a bump in the polls for candidates.
Most notably, Harris has managed to avoid any significant scrutiny.
Contrast this with the treatment her former running mate, President Biden, received, particularly in the days leading up to his exit from the race. Following a disastrous debate performance, the media began relentlessly questioning Biden’s health. His poll numbers plummeted, and an intense pressure campaign from within the Democratic Party forced him to drop out of the race. Remarkably, even during this tough period, Biden was more accessible to the media, granting an interview to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos just eight days after his poor debate performance. Subsequent interviews and rallies couldn’t salvage his campaign, leading to his withdrawal on July 21.
Harris, by contrast, was much more media-friendly in the aftermath of Biden’s debate debacle, appearing on MSNBC, CNN, and ABC to spin the narrative of a “bad night.” Both Harris and Trump have been active on the campaign trail since their match-up was confirmed, but only Trump has been doing interviews, including a notable appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists’ annual conference in Chicago, where he engaged directly with the panelists. Harris, meanwhile, was a no-show.
Instead, the media spotlight has been filled by high-profile Harris supporters. One of her top surrogates, Transportation Secretary and former VP contender Pete Buttigieg, has done at least 10 interviews in the past two weeks, hyping Harris’s candidacy and attacking the Trump-Vance ticket.
Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance specifically called out Harris’s “basement strategy” on Tuesday, urging reporters to hold her accountable.
“This is a person who has been a presumptive Democrat nominee for 16 days. She hasn’t taken a single real question from a reporter,” Vance said. “The American people deserve to get to know the people who want to lead them, and I think it’s shameful for Kamala Harris, but increasingly for the media, that she is taking a basement strategy of running from reporters instead of getting in front of them and answering tough questions about her record and letting the American people know who she is.”
