Vice President Kamala Harris has gone 16 days without holding a formal press conference since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee as of Tuesday.
Harris became essentially the de facto nominee after President Biden endorsed her on July 21 when he dropped out of the race and she officially clinched the nomination last week. She has been busy on the campaign trail, spoken at various events, and given informal remarks to reporters at various points, but hasn’t done a formal press conference or wide-ranging interview in the 16 days that have followed.
She also failed to appear at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago, where former President Trump made headlines on Wednesday with a heated question-and-answer session, although she could make a future appearance with the group. On Thursday, she briefly addressed reporters at Joint Base Andrews as she and Biden greeted Americans freed from Russia in a massive prisoner swap, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
Now, she’s closing in on making her running mate choice to take on former President Trump in November. She will make her choice on Tuesday and appear with him at a rally in Philadelphia this evening.
Harris has been so elusive that The New York Times published excerpts from an interview she conducted last year to see where her answers “land now.” Some critics have likened the strategy thus far to what was derided as the Biden “basement” approach in 2020.
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Much of the Democratic Party — including governors, senators and House members as well as party leaders — quickly coalesced behind Harris following Biden’s blockbuster news. But critics have started to take notice that Harris hasn’t faced tough questions since.
National Review senior writer Noah Rothman asked his social media followers on Wednesday, “When is Kamala Harris going to hold a press conference?”
“The most revealing exposure to which a candidate can submit is a prolonged press conference — and that’s precisely what Harris needs to do. Indeed, we know that’s what she needs to do because it was only a few weeks ago that Democratic political professionals and their allies insisted that was what Biden had to do,” he wrote for National Review.
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NewsBusters executive editor Tim Graham expects her to follow President Biden’s 2020 playbook, when he was famously accused of hiding in his basement during the COVID pandemic.
“Kamala Harris should absolutely hold a press conference. One would expect it when she names her vice-presidential pick. But we cannot expect her to break from Biden’s serial avoidance of press conferences,” Graham told Fox News Digital.
“Since the 2020 campaign, we have witnessed the bizarre spectacle of Donald Trump granting wide access to networks that suggest he’s a fascist and hammer him daily, while Biden and Harris won’t grant interviews to media outlets that gurgle all over them and their ‘historic accomplishments,’” he continued. “Either they think the press can never be servile enough or they are projecting a complete lack of confidence in their efforts to put complete sentences together.”
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DePauw University media studies professor Jeffrey McCall believes the Harris campaign is “well aware that Biden dodged the media throughout his 2020 campaign and still got elected.”
“The Harris camp is also well aware that their candidate doesn’t do well in unscripted settings, not to mention that a presser or legitimate sit-down interview would necessarily require her to defend some of her positions, previous statements and record. Thus, a rerun of the Biden basement campaign sounds pretty good, as long as you throw in a couple of rallies with Megan Thee Stallion,” McCall added, referring to the rapper who appeared at Harris’ Atlanta rally on Tuesday.
He suggested that Harris doesn’t feel pressure “to do a press conference just because she has fallen into the nomination” because Democrats will support her either way.
“The supporters rallying around her don’t expect her to be accountable and have little interest in her policy positions and so on. That she’s not Biden, or Trump, is sufficient for those supporters,” McCall said.
“From a rhetorical strategy standpoint, however, it would behoove Harris to actually do a presser and do real journalistic interviews,” he continued. “At some point, it would seem, she’ll have to attract moderates or undecided voters who want to see her take questions.”
The Harris campaign has not responded to requests for comment.
The Democratic National Convention is set to kick off Aug. 19 in Chicago.
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
