Why is Kamala Harris bringing Tim Walz to her first major interview?

Three weeks in the past, simply days after being formally chosen because the Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris was pressed on her plans for a sit-down interview.

“I’ve talked to my crew,” she instructed reporters on the airport tarmac in Detroit. “I would like us to get an interview scheduled earlier than the tip of the month.”

On Thursday night time, Ms Harris will – simply barely – make good on that promise, sitting down with CNN’s Dana Bash for her first main interview.

But Ms Harris is not going to be there by herself. The vice-president will probably be joined by her operating mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, for the prime-time look, airing at 21:00 EDT (02:00 BST).

Ms Harris might have answered the query of when she would conduct an in-depth, substantive dialogue of her candidacy and agenda – normal process for all main celebration presidential candidates.

But with Mr Walz in tow, the choice to make this a joint look may gas rising criticism that after escaping the rigours of a months-long presidential main, she is now dodging the scrutiny that comes with a solo interview.

“I believe it’s extremely weak, weak sauce, to point out up together with your operating mate,” mentioned Scott Jennings, a former particular assistant to President George W Bush, on CNN, including that Harris had a “troubling insecurity” in her personal political capacity.

But supporters of Ms Harris insist that given the unprecedented nature of her candidacy following President Joe Biden’s sudden departure from the race, she is taking issues at a sensible tempo.

“I believe the cadence has been proper,” mentioned Peter Giangreco, a Chicago-based Democratic strategist. “Win the nomination, decide your nominee, lay out your financial plan, do your conference and now do some sit-downs and amplify that.”

Joint interviews that includes each members of a presidential ticket are usually not uncommon.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden sat for an interview with 60 minutes after Mr Biden was chosen because the vice-presidential nominee in 2008. Eight years later, Hillary Clinton and her operating mate Tim Kaine did the identical. For Ms Harris and Mr Biden in 2020, they picked ABC’s 20/20. And lower than per week after Trump introduced JD Vance as his operating mate, the pair have been collectively interviewed on Fox.

But since Mr Biden handed the torch to her late final month, Ms Harris has restricted most of her engagement with the press to scripted and highly-controlled environments. Her final formal sit-down interview was on 24 June, greater than two months and a political lifetime in the past.

Her occasional interactions with reporters – transient solutions to shouted questions on her option to and from marketing campaign occasions – have finished little to quell Republican claims that she is shirking any alternative to have her report and agenda put below the microscope.

The harshest criticism comes from her Republican opponents, who’ve each given a number of interviews up to now month.

“She’s not good sufficient to do a information convention,” Mr Trump instructed media earlier in August. “She received’t do interviews with pleasant individuals as a result of she will be able to’t do higher than Biden.”

The Democratic nominee has loved a surge in momentum since coming into the race. Now, after her whirlwind introduction to American voters, she must “reinforce” that vitality, mentioned Republican strategist and Trump critic Chip Felkel.

“She’s gotta get on the market,” he mentioned. “She’s received to point out that she will be able to assume below strain, as a result of that’s a part of what the president has to do.”

By doing a joint interview, the Harris marketing campaign might have calculated that the strain – and the tough questions – will a minimum of be shared between the 2 of them. And it ensures each are in lockstep in the case of explaining coverage.

Mr Giangreco, the Democratic strategist, predicted Ms Harris and Mr Walz will attempt to flip the main focus onto their financial plan, an agenda to decrease the price of dwelling and supply financial safety that she first introduced at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, two weeks in the past.

Mr Giangreco additionally pointed to a different potential advantage of a joint interview: drawing a distinction between Mr Walz and his Republican counterpart JD Vance who he has labelled as “bizarre”.

Still, the true impression of Ms Harris and Mr Walz’s sit-down received’t be recognized till it’s finished.

Ms Harris’s report with high-pressure interviews is combined. A 2021 dialog with NBC’s Lester Holt, through which she fumbled by way of questions on her position within the administration’s border coverage, was broadly considered a failure.

But in a newer look, a one-on-one with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, through which she defended Mr Biden’s calamitous debate efficiency, Ms Harris seemed calm and assured amid a political firestorm.

If this high-stakes CNN joint interview falls into the latter class, then the Harris marketing campaign will hope a lot of the criticism will fall away, mentioned Mr Felkel, the Republican strategist.

“They simply want to have the ability to say ‘See, we instructed you,’” he mentioned. “And then preserve transferring.”