August 31, 2024, presidential campaign news | CNN Politics

CNN conducted the first joint interview of Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, on Thursday.

Here’s how the Democratic ticket responded to some key questions from CNN’s Dana Bash:

Flip-flop on fracking: In 2019, Kamala Harris opposed fracking — a position that could have proven politically damaging in Pennsylvania, where it’s a huge employer. Now, she says, she supports it.

Progressives have opposed fracking due to concerns about climate change. But under the Inflation Reduction Act, a bill that Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to pass in the Senate and President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022, fracking has expanded.

Harris said she had already changed her position on fracking in 2020, when she said that Biden “will not end fracking.”

“What I have seen is that we can grow and we can increase a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking,” she told Bash.

Appointing a Republican to the Cabinet: Asked if she would appoint a Republican to her Cabinet, Harris said: “Yes, I would.”

“No one in particular,” she said. “We have 68 days to go in this election, so I’m not putting the cart before the horse. But I would.”

Refusing to engage in identity politics: Last month, Donald Trump questioned Harris’ racial identity, suggesting she’d previously identified as South Asian but “happened to turn Black” for political purposes.

Shaking her head, Harris said Trump’s remark is part of his “same old tired playbook.”

“Next question, please,” she said.

Her refusal to comment further aligns with her campaign’s strategy to avoid leaning into identity politics following Trump’s remarks.

Blaming Trump on border security: Trump has made attacking the Biden administration’s handling of the US-Mexico border a signature issue, but Harris said Trump bears much of the blame for the border security problems he bemoans.

She pointed to his opposition to the bipartisan border security bill hashed out by a group of lawmakers. Asked if she would push that bill if she is elected president, Harris said: “I would make sure that it would come to my desk and I would sign it.”

Read more takeaways from the exclusive interview.