Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was blunt when asked about Vice President Kamala Harris reversing some of her progressive policy positions less than two months before the November election.
“She used to support Medicare for All, she doesn't support it anymore. She used to support a ban on fracking, she doesn't support it anymore. These are ideas that you campaigned on, Senator. Do you think she's abandoning progressive ideals?” NBC's Kristen Welker asked Sanders on “Meet the Press.”
“No, I don't think she's abandoning her ideals,” he replied. “I think she's trying to be pragmatic and trying to do what she thinks is right to win the election.”
Harris changes key position on border and illegal immigration, promising 'pragmatic' approach on campaign trail
Since emerging as the Democratic candidate, Harris has distanced herself from the far-left policies she previously supported, including on immigration, energy and health care.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said Harris was being “pragmatic” by abandoning far-left policies “in order to win the election.”
Asked to defend her policy changes in her first interview as a candidate in August, Harris said her “values haven't changed.”
“I think the most important and significant thing about my policy views and my decisions is that my values haven't changed,” Harris told CNN's Dana Bash. “You talked about the Green New Deal, but I've always believed and committed to the climate crisis being real and being an urgent issue that requires deadlines and other standards. And I did that with the Inflation Control Act.”
“We've set targets for the United States, and indeed the entire planet, for when we need to achieve certain baselines of greenhouse gas emission reductions,” Harris continued.
“Those values haven't changed. My values haven't changed about what we need to do to secure our border. I served two terms as California's attorney general, prosecuting violations of U.S. laws regarding the illegal passage of guns, drugs and people across the border, as well as international criminal organizations. My values haven't changed,” she said.
Sanders said on NBC that his views are “a little different” from Harris' but that he still sees her as a “progressive” with similar goals.
49 days: Kamala Harris has yet to hold a formal press conference since emerging as the Democratic nominee.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Vice President Kamala Harris. (Getty Images)
Regarding Harris' no longer support for Medicare for All, Sanders said, “She's taking a different approach to moving to universal health care.”
“But when you look again at issues like expanding Medicare, expanding Social Security, lifting the cap on taxable income that the wealthy imposed to increase Social Security benefits … the need to raise the minimum wage from a starvation minimum of $7.25 to a living wage … when you raise these issues and question billionaires, you know what's going to happen? I think she's going to win, and I think she's going to win in a big way,” he continued.
Sanders reiterated that he believes Harris is a “progressive” and listed policies they both support.
“Her and I have different positions, but, for example, when she talks about making the child tax credit permanent — you know, we did that with the American Rescue Plan. We reduced child poverty by 40 percent. Kristen, we, the richest country on earth, shouldn't have one of the highest rates of child poverty. When she talks about 3 million affordable housing units, that's a big thing, because America has a huge housing crisis. When she talks about passing the PRO Act to make it easier for workers to unionize, that's a big thing, because we have to expand unionism and make sure workers can get a decent wage. So, certainly her views are not mine, but I consider her a progressive,” he added.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Harris' campaign for comment.
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Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, step off the campaign bus in Savannah, Georgia, on August 28, 2024, for a two-day campaign bus tour across Georgia. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
A campaign spokesperson previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that Harris had made some key policy changes and was taking a “pragmatic” approach to “bringing all positions together.”
“While Donald Trump holds fast to the extreme ideas of his Project 2025 plan, Vice President Harris believes that true leadership means bringing all sides together to build consensus,” spokesperson Mia Ellenberg said in a statement. “This approach has enabled the Biden-Harris Administration to make bipartisan breakthroughs on everything from infrastructure to gun violence prevention. As president, she will take that same pragmatic approach, focusing on commonsense solutions for progress.”
A Harris campaign adviser told Fox her position was “formed by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden-Harris administration.”
Harris and former President Trump are scheduled to face off in a debate hosted by ABC News on Tuesday.
Fox News' Adam Shaw and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
