Alex Brandon/AP
Vice President Kamala Harris will sit and answer questions from a local news station in Philadelphia on Friday evening during her first solo interview with a reporter since she was selected as the Democratic Party’s nominee and since Tuesday’s debate.
Harris will sit for a pre-recorded conversation with Action News Six anchor Brian Taff, according to Alex Thompson with Axios.
Harris has only sat down for one interview – a joint conversation alongside her running mate Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz – since President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid in July.
During the interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Harris and Walz vowed to usher in an “opportunity economy” if elected in November.
Harris has taken flak over her media accessibility but recent polling has showed her statistically tied with former President Donald Trump in the seven key battleground states that are likely to decide the election.
The news of Harris’s interview with a Pennsylvania news station comes a day after NBC News reported the vice president was facing mounting criticism from her closest allies for being “walled off” to the media. NBC reported:
Fresh off a debate they thought went well for her, Vice President Kamala Harris’ aides are slowly opening up more engagement for her with the media amid growing concern among allies that she needs to be more accessible, but they have no plans to fundamentally alter their strategy.
The campaign said Harris plans to do more interviews with local media in battleground states and speak more with her traveling media corps in the coming days. She will also take questions from members of the National Association of Black Journalists, with whom former President Donald Trump sat for a contentious interview this summer.
Veteran Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha told NBC News that Harris would benefit from speaking to national media outlets and endorsed a strategy that focused on speaking to voters where they live.
“I think she should do as many interviews as possible in battleground states, but the rest is a waste of time,” Rocha said.
