Vice President Kamala Harris struggled to name just one policy she would’ve done differently from President Biden in the past three-and-a-half years.
Harris spoke at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Friday, and took questions from the media afterward. NBC News correspondent Peter Alexander pressed Harris on her campaign’s struggle with male voters before asking her about policy differences between herself and Biden.
“What is one policy that you would’ve done differently, over these last three-and-a-half years than President Biden?” he asked.
Harris responded, “To be very candid with you, including Mike Pence, vice presidents are not critical of their presidents. I think that really, actually, in terms of the tradition of it and also just going forward, it does not make for a productive and important relationship.”
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids, Mich., Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Alexander followed up with, “He’s now given you that green light with his comments that you can carve your own path,” referencing comments Biden made this week.
Harris began to answer that “going forward, there’s no question” she brings “her own life experiences” to the presidency.
“Is there a policy that stands out to you in particular?” he pressed.
Harris said she would push for Medicare to cover home health care, make housing more affordable for first-time home buyers and help small businesses.
“My approach to what we need to around Medicare covering home health care, born out of my experience of taking care of my mother. My priority on housing, one, because I know what it means; affordable housing and the ability to buy a home. Again, my own experience. My mother saved up, and not until I was a teenager was she able to do it, and I know for so many young people who I speak with around our country, the American dream is just really out of reach. So my policy about $25,000 down payment assistance to help them get their foot in the door. The work that I have been doing and will bring to the presidency around emphasizing small businesses as being part of the real backbone of America’s economy,” she said about the changes she’d make “moving forward.”
Vice President Harris initially dodged a question asking her to name a policy where she was different from President Biden. (MSNBC/screenshot)
After the interview aired on MSNBC, host Katy Tur remarked to her panel that Harris “seems like she struggles to answer that” question and “has not been very clear” when asked how her presidency would differ from Biden’s.
Alexander said he’s heard from “several” undecided voters on the campaign trail that they want to hear how Harris will be different from Biden.
“Clearly she doesn’t want to talk about the last three-and-a-half years, she wants to talk about the future, as has been a campaign theme. But I do think that leaves some unanswered questions for some voters,” Alexander remarked.
During the same interview with Alexander on Friday, Harris also gave a word salad answer when asked what “generation change means to [her].”
According to polling data, less than one-third of Americans believe that the country is on the right track.
“I think it’s about a state of mind, and it is about understanding that we should be focused on this moment and this is a very particular moment where there is a lot happening in our country that is about innovation, that are really new approaches to longstanding challenges and it’s a new generation of thinking as much as anything else,” she responded.
Harris has frequently dodged questions about how she would run the country differently from Biden.
On “The View” last week, Harris said, “There is not a thing that comes to mind” that she would do differently from Biden and she dodged the question again on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
During an interview with Fox News’ host Bret Baier on Wednesday, Harris declared her presidency would not be a continuation of the current administration but didn’t give specifics.
Harris said her presidency would not be a continuation of Biden’s in an interview with Fox News this week. (Fox News Media/Getty Images)
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“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. I represent a new generation of leadership,” Harris answered.
She continued, “I, for example, am someone who has not spent the majority of my career in Washington, D.C. I invite ideas, whether it be from the Republicans who are supporting me, who were just on stage with me minutes ago, and the business sector, and others who can contribute to the decisions that I make.”
Fox News’ Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.
