Harris defends immigration shift, could name Republican to cabinet
Harris' first formal interview since nomination
Harris has moved to center on immigration, fracking
Could name a Republican to cabinet if elected
Adds comments from CNN interview excerpts, paragraphs 1-8
By Andrea Shalal
SAVANNAH, Georgia, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Kamala Harris defended some personal shifts in policy toward the center on Thursday and said she might name a Republican to her cabinet if elected, in her first interview with a mainstream news organization since Democrats nominated her for president.
"I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is, my values have not changed," she told CNN anchor Dana Bash in an early excerpt from the interview to be broadcast at 9 p.m. ET (0100 GMT on Friday).
Harris has moved more toward the center on some issues from the time she ran for president in 2020 until she took over from President Joe Biden as the Democrats' choice to face Republican former President Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 election.
She has toughened her position on migration along the southern U.S. border with Mexico. She also no longer wants a ban on fracking, an energy production method that employs many people in Pennsylvania, one of a handful of swing states that could decide the election.
"My value around what we need to do to secure our border - that value has not changed. I spent two terms as the attorney general of California prosecuting trans-national criminal organizations, violations of American laws, regarding the illegal passage of guns, drugs and human beings across our border. My values have not changed," she said.
Harris' conversation was aimed at showing her in command of the issues. Some critics suggested she may be less polished in unscripted settings after she led Democrats' turnaround with a series of forceful campaign speeches.
Harris, joined by her vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, also discussed the possibility of adding a Republican to her potential cabinet, saying she wanted a diversity of opinion.
"I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my cabinet who was a Republican," she said.
The U.S. vice president has eschewed formal interviews and press conferences during her rapid rise to the top of the Democratic ticket.
FIRST ONE-ON-ONE INTERVIEW SINCE BIDEN EXIT
Though she has taken questions from journalists on the campaign trail and been interviewed on TikTok in recent days, she had, until Thursday, not done a one-on-one interview with a major network or print journalist since President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign on July 21 and endorsed her.
Asked on Aug. 8 when she would do her first big interview, Harris said she wanted to do one by the end of the month.
Bash, who co-moderated the June 27 debate between Donald Trump and Biden that hastened the president's departure from the race, conducted the interview in Savannah, Georgia, as Harris and Walz continue their bus tour of the battleground state.
Harris' lack of interviews has sparked criticism from opponents, and some concern among supporters, that she is less sharp in spontaneous settings than she is at rallies or speeches where prepared remarks and a Teleprompter are at her disposal.
Trump frequently holds press conferences and offers interviews to conservative news outlets. He often uses them to criticize Harris and Biden rather than discuss his own policy aims in detail.
As Harris' bus caravan left her Savannah hotel on Thursday, several dozen Trump supporters with signs and banners braved torrential rain to line the streets.
She and Walz arrived at Kim’s Cafe, a Black-owned restaurant, in the early afternoon to tape the interview.
Before Harris picked him as her running mate for the Nov. 5 election, Walz did a string of interviews with major television networks.
Harris and Walz kicked off their bus tour of Georgia on Tuesday, as they worked to woo voters in a state Biden narrowly won in 2020, and which could play a decisive role in this year's election.
Reporting by Andrea Shalal; additional reporting by David Ljunggren; Writing by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland; Editing by Heather Timmons, Jonathan Oatis and Howard Goller
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