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Kamala Harris has insisted her presidency would “not be a continuation” of Joe Biden’s during a pitch to conservative voters in a combative interview on Fox News.
In her first sit-down interview on the conservative news channel, the vice-president repeatedly locked horns with interviewer Bret Baier on Wednesday over the Biden administration’s handling of immigration and whether she represented a genuine change from the Democratic president.
“Let me be very clear, my presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency, and like every new president that comes in to office, I will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences, and fresh and new ideas,” Harris said. “I represent a new generation of leadership.”
Harris’s comments were a departure for the 59-year-old Democrat, who has struggled to articulate how she would break from Biden since replacing him as the party’s presidential candidate in the summer.
But the vice-president largely avoided a question on when she had observed Biden’s cognitive decline, replying: “Joe Biden is not on the ballot, and Donald Trump is.”
The interview on a Rupert Murdoch-controlled news channel considered hostile to Democrats came as Harris launched a media blitz following concerns from top party operatives that her campaign appearances have been too scripted.
Harris is also trying to break a tight race with Trump by appealing to independent voters and Republicans disenchanted with the former president.
In the interview, the vice-president repeatedly tried to turn the topic to Trump, who she said was “unfit” to be president.
In one heated exchange, Harris cited Trump’s recent threats to mobilise the military against the “enemy from within” as proof of his poor unsuitability for a second term.
“The president of the United States, in the United States of America, should be willing to be able to handle criticism without saying he would lock people up for doing it. And this is what is at stake.”
Harris also defended the Biden administration over the surge in immigration in recent years, saying Trump had torpedoed a bipartisan bill in Congress that would have handed more resources to border agents and cut crossings in to the US from Mexico.
She also struck a hardline stance on illegal immigration, a topic on which Trump has enjoyed an advantage over her among voters by criticising the Biden administration over the surge in crossings from Mexico in recent years.
“I do not believe in decriminalising border crossings, and I’ve not done that as vice-president,” Harris said. “I will not do that as president.”
Trump’s campaign described Harris’s interview as a “total, unmitigated disaster”, criticising her answers on immigration and saying she had “abdicated responsibility for covering up Biden’s cognitive decline”.
Polls of the White House race show Harris with a narrow lead over Trump nationally but in a virtual tie in the swing states that will decide the election on November 5.
Harris’s effort to regain momentum in the race included an interview on Tuesday with Charlamagne tha God, a syndicated radio host whose show is popular with young Black Americans. Her campaign has also considered appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast, which has a huge audience especially among men.
But Wednesday’s interview with a bastion of conservative media was also seen as the clearest signal that Harris was trying to win over independents and disaffected Republicans in the final stretch of her campaign.
It came hours after she appeared in Bucks County, Pennsylvania — a critical corner of the battleground state — with a direct appeal to moderates who have grown weary of Trump. On the stump, Harris pledged to be a president who “actively works to unite us” and is “realistic and practical and has common sense”.
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