In her first sit-down interview since President Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race, Vice President Harris says voters should pay no mind to policy flip-flops she made between her 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns and instead know that her “values have not changed” in the past five years. 

During her short-lived primary campaign for the Democratic nomination in 2019, Ms. Harris endorsed some of the most left-wing policies that have come from congressional Democrats in recent years. A ban on fracking, a decriminalization of border crossings, and so-called “Medicare for All” are just some of the policies she espoused at the time, though they are no longer a part of her program. 

“The most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decision is [that] my values have not changed,” she told CNN’s Dana Bash in an exclusive interview, taped alongside her running mate, Governor Walz. 

While she was a senator, she endorsed Senator Markey and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, which she says she no longer supports. 

“I have always believed … the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time. We did that with the Inflation Reduction Act,” she said. “We have set goals for the United States of America — and by extension the globe — around when we should meet certain standards for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. That value has not changed.”

On banning fracking, the vice president said she changed her position four years ago, and that her record as vice president has been nothing less than fully supportive of fracking. “I made that clear on the debate stage in 2020,” she said, when asked if she supports fracking now. Ms. Harris added that America can have a transition to clean energy “without banning fracking.”

During a debate in 2019, when candidates were asked to raise their hands if they believed the act of crossing the border should be made a civil instead of a criminal offense, Ms. Harris raised her hand. Now, she says there should be “consequences” for those who cross the border without coming to a port of entry to seek asylum. 

“I believe there should be consequences. We have laws,” she said. Ms. Harris added that, “In this race, I am the only person that has prosecuted transnational criminal organizations.”

Ms. Harris also made a point to distance herself from so-called “Bidenomics,” which Ms. Bash hinted have been, in part, responsible for the affordability crisis affecting America today. On her first day, the vice president said she would be focused on “implementing my plan for what I call an opportunity economy,” which she said included extending the child tax credit, supporting small businesses and families, investing in affordable housing. 

When Ms. Bash asked about Bidenomics being a success, Ms. Harris pivoted. She said the Biden–Harris administration came into office at “the height of the pandemic” but that “we have inflation at under three percent.”

“America recovered faster than any other wealthy country around the world,” Ms. Harris said. 

“First of all, we had to recover,” Ms. Harris added, defending her record. She listed price caps on prescription medications and insulin as major successes. 

Ms. Harris added that she would be open to nominating a Republican to serve in her cabinet, though she has “no one particular in mind.”

“It would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my cabinet who was a Republican,” she said. During the Democratic National Convention, a number of anti-Trump Republicans spoke who could hypothetically serve in such a role.  

Mr. Walz, for his part, was asked about some controversies from his past, including when he claimed in 2018 that he had carried a firearm “in war” despite never deploying to a warzone. 

“My record speaks for itself,” the Minnesota governor said. “I think people know me. They know who I am.” He explained his comments further, saying that “it was after a school shooting.”

“I certainly own my mistakes,” Mr. Walz said.