As of Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris had not held a formal press conference or interview in 23 days since being confirmed as the Democratic presidential nominee.
Harris became the de facto candidate after President Biden endorsed her when he dropped out of the race on July 21, and has since formally secured the nomination. Harris has been busy campaigning, speaking at various events and making private comments to reporters at various points, but has not held a formal press conference or wide-ranging interview in the more than three weeks since.
Amid growing criticism on that front, Harris spoke briefly with reporters traveling with her in Michigan on Thursday. In her speech, which lasted just over a minute, she said she looked forward to debating former President Trump on ABC on Sept. 10 and defended the military record of her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
She also said her team was trying to set up an interview by the end of the month. On Saturday, she spoke to reporters in Phoenix to answer a short question about her policy platform, the latest news on the Gaza war and the role of the Federal Reserve.
Left-wing The Washington Post editorial board files complaint Harris said Sunday that her opponent “at least answered the questions” after dodging media interviews. The Washington Post said she had a number of policy moves to explain, including on fracking, border security and private health insurance.
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Vice President Kamala Harris has not held a press conference in the three weeks since she was confirmed as the Democratic presidential nominee. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The issue has also caught the attention of Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, who has called on the media to do more to cover the issue and force Harris to answer questions.
At a news conference in Detroit on Wednesday, Vance urged reporters to “show some self-awareness” and urged Harris to “do her part as a presidential candidate” by speaking to reporters.
“Until she is, you guys need to stop giving her honeymoons and acting like she’s something she’s not,” he said.
Vance appeared on three Sunday shows on Aug. 11 to answer sharp and hostile questioning from CNN, CBS and ABC, while Harris and Walz were content to send in their representatives.
Trump also criticized her limited media access during a lengthy press conference at Mar-a-Lago last week.
“She doesn’t know how to do a press conference. She’s not smart enough to do a press conference,” he said.
Noah Rothman, a senior writer at National Review, recently asked his social media followers, “When will Kamala Harris hold a press conference?”
“The most revealing exposure a candidate can get is a lengthy press conference, and that’s exactly what Harris should be doing. know That’s what she should do, because just a few weeks ago, Democratic political pundits and their allies were arguing that’s what Biden needed to do,” he wrote in National Review.
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Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance (Getty Images)
Tim Graham, editor-in-chief of NewsBusters, expects her to follow President Biden’s 2020 playbook, in which he was accused of hiding in his basement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Kamala Harris should absolutely hold a press conference. She will hold one when she nominates him as her running mate. But we can’t expect Biden to break away from his repeated avoidance of press conferences,” Graham told Fox News Digital.
“Since the 2020 election campaign, we have witnessed the bizarre spectacle of Donald Trump allowing widespread access to the media that daily denounces him as a fascist, while Biden and Harris refuse to give interviews to media that hyperbolically criticize them and their ‘historic achievements,'” he continued. “Either they believe the press is never compliant enough, or they are displaying a total lack of confidence in their efforts to construct complete sentences.”
Current state of the election campaign with 100 days left until the November election
Critics have noted that Vice President Kamala Harris has not held a formal press conference since President Biden ended his reelection campaign. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
The Harris campaign told Fox News Digital last week that it is implementing strategies to most effectively reach voters.
“With less than 90 days left, the VP’s top priority is winning the support of voters who will decide the outcome of this election,” the spokesperson said. “With limited time and a fragmented media environment, we need to be strategic, creative and agile to reach voters in the most effective ways possible – through paid media, on-the-ground organizing, an aggressive campaign schedule and, of course, interviews that reach our target voters. This is a far cry from Trump’s ineffective strategy of fighting a losing battle – angry posts, attacks on reporters and insulting voters as necessary to win.”
“If Donald Trump is so concerned about VP Harris’s campaign success, he should be out there campaigning. We’re thrilled that he’s focusing on policies that are likely to lose him the election: repealing the ACA, killing bipartisan border legislation, and supporting a nationwide abortion ban.”
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Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
