On Friday's MSNBC broadcast of “Morning Joe,” Adrienne Elrod, senior adviser and spokesperson for the Harris-Waltz campaign, defended 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris' policy shift, saying, “When you become a public servant and serve the American people, you often learn more about issues,” and, “Public servants evolve, and you want someone in office who is going to rigorously examine issues and be open-minded about where they stand. The more you learn about an issue, the more it evolves.” But he said he was “confident” Harris will maintain her current positions.
Co-host Willie Geist said, “One of the things you've heard is… [voters] “I'm concerned about her current positions compared to previous positions, especially in the 2019 and 2020 campaigns. What's the best way to explain the fairly dramatic change in VP Harris' positions? I know she says her values haven't changed, but what does that mean specifically when she talks about her previous support for decriminalizing illegal border crossings, her support for single-payer health care and eliminating private health insurance, and her support for banning fracking (which she says she no longer supports)? What's the best way for voters who are now considering whether to vote for her to understand these changes?”
Elrod responded, “Willie, I'm glad you asked this question. I think she made it very clear that when you become a public servant and serve the American people, often times you learn more about an issue, and when you learn more about an issue, often times your positions evolve. For example, her position on fracking is the same position she was in during the 2020 campaign. … People's positions evolve. If you look back at where a lot of elected officials have stood on marriage equality, for example, in the early 2000s and mid-2000s, a lot of elected officials were against it. And of course, it's hard to imagine, especially in the Democratic Party these days, not supporting marriage equality. Of course, the vice president has always supported it. But at the end of the day, people evolve, and public officials evolve. And I think you want someone in office who is going to really look at the issues and be open-minded when it comes to their positions. The more that person learns about the issues, the more the issues evolve.”
Geist continued, “So, Adrienne, I think the concern is that she's making these statements to win the election and that once she's president, she'll revert to her previous positions. Would it be fair to say that she's going to stay the way she is?”
Elrod responded, “Willie, it's safe to say that. She made that very clear during Tuesday night's debate. She's evolved on some positions, but when it comes to where she stands on issues that matter to the American people, her values have not changed. That has remained the same throughout her career, when she was a prosecutor, when she was attorney general of California, when she was a United States senator and, of course, when she was vice president.”
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