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Vice President Kamala Harris continues resisting press appearances, as new details emerge of her campaign's effort to keep her away from appearances with the press or tough interviews.
After a brief interview with CNN's Dana Bash in August, Harris has shied away from traditional interviews with established news outlets in favor of friendly podcasts and live events.
Earlier this week, Harris appeared with Spanish-language podcaster Stephanie 'Chiquibaby' Himonidis and on Thursday, she will hold a live event with supporter Oprah Winfrey.
That's part of her strategy, according to her campaign, who argues she has a 'steady dose' of appearances with the media.
'She does a steady dose of media engagements because she believes speaking to a broad array of voters where they consume their news and information is important. It's how you reach people where they are,' campaign spokesman Ian Sams told CNN.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has shied away from more traditional media interviews since seizing the Democratic nomination for president
Former President Donald Trump and JD Vance have conducted more than 70 interviews, press conferences, and print interviews in that last 59 days. Comparatively, Harris and her running mate Gov Tim Walz have only participated in seven, according to Axios.
As vice president, Harris was seen as unprepared for the position, as she struggled to answer questions in interviews and her off-the-cuff remarks frequently spiraled into word salads.
Harris has kept the press at a distance, according to reports, as the campaign is worried her remarks could be clipped or interpreted in a way that could hurt the campaign.
A recent interview with a local Pennsylvania outlet earned her more mockery than praise after she answered questions about the economy with scripted remarks about her upbringing as a middle class kid.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute
Kamala Harris sits for an interview with CNN's Dana Bash
Harris has leaned into her persona as a 'joyful warrior' but she still wants to emphasize her image as a 'bada**' female leader.
When one of the moderators asked her about her 'joyful warrior' brand, during an event with the Association of Black Journalists on Tuesday, Harris interrupted him.
'You didn't see that just a minute ago, though,' she quipped, recalling earlier angry comments about Trump.
After the crowd laughed, Harris continued, 'Okay. I'm back to my joyful part.'
Despite Harris' hesitancy to participate in interviews, her campaign team appears more willing to deploy Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff to promote Harris and her 'bada**' brand.
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff claps as Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Phoenix Awards
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (L) walks alongside husband US Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff
Since Harris seized the Democratic nomination for president, Emhoff has appeared on multiple long-form podcast interviews and even an interview with ABC News' Jimmy Kimmel.
Emhoff explained in a podcast interview with journalist John Heilemann in an interview released Thursday that the campaign realized Harris' problems and admitted there was a lot of workshopping behind the scenes to help her fix it.
'We've thought a lot about how to do this and bust through the caricature of her which, those of us who know her well, there was such a false view of her that was out there,' he said, referring to her first three years as vice president.
Emhoff emphasized to Heilemann and the hosts on Pod Save America that Harris was a 'bada**' who was 'ready to lead on day one' because of her experience as the vice president.
'It's like she's the most version of herself, she's the most bada** version of herself, because she's kind of just been waiting for this moment,' he said to Heilemann.
The campaign has also deployed Emhoff on the fundraising circuit, pushing him to be more outraged about the things said about his wife. During a fundraiser speech in Brooklyn, New York, Emhoff made a point of emphasizing Harris' toughness.
'You saw it yesterday … she called out the little sidekick JD Vance, for his cynical fabrication intentionally designed to terrorize a community,' he said.
Emhoff even went as far as to reenact part of Harris' debate performance, recalling the moment that Harris appeared on the debate stage and shook former President Trump's hand and introduced herself.
While some interpreted the Harris moment as awkward or goofy, Emhoff praised it as a power move, reliving some of Harris' strongest moments on the debate stage.
'Guess what, he did not look at her one time, he didn't have the courage to even look her in the eye, to all that stuff he's tweeting and Truth Socializing and saying at these rallies,' he said, referring to Trump.
