Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms asserted on Friday that Vice President Kamala Harris’ limited number of media interviews can be attributed to her being “very busy.”
At 59, Harris is on track to have the lowest interview count of any major party presidential nominee in history. She has faced criticism from both supporters and opponents for conducting only six in-depth interviews since President Biden announced he would not seek re-election on July 21.
In response to questions regarding Harris’ hesitance to engage with the press, Bottoms, who serves as a senior adviser for the Harris-Walz campaign, emphasized the vice president’s packed schedule during her appearance on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”
“She’s a very busy person,” Bottoms stated. “She’s the vice president as well as a candidate.”
The Harris advisor maintained that the Democratic nominee is already effectively communicating her policy views to the electorate through her organized campaign events.
“We heard her today talk about her views on these policies,” Bottoms noted. “It may not be in the format that the media would like. It may not be that she’s sitting down doing a one-on-one interview, but we heard her today in Georgia talk about her stance on reproductive freedom.”
Harris conducted her first formal interview since being chosen to replace Biden on the Democratic ticket nearly a month after the 81-year-old president endorsed her candidacy.
For the Aug. 29 conversation with CNN’s Dana Bash, she was joined by her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who is 60.
In addition to this, Harris has participated in interviews with Philadelphia’s ABC station, Spanish-language radio host Chiquibaby, and a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) event.
In contrast, former President Donald Trump, at 78, has managed to conduct at least three times the number of interviews within the same timeframe, including some that have extended beyond an hour, like his recent discussion on X Spaces with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
Meanwhile, Ohio Senator JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, has frequently appeared on various Sunday morning public affairs shows.
{Matzav.com}