Vice President Kamala Harris could be “playing politics” by allowing her subordinates to take the lead on her making major policy shifts, rather than pushing them herself, a Republican strategist says.
Unnamed officials for Harris have announced her flip-flopping on key issues that she previously supported during her 2019 presidential run, such as fracking and “Medicare for All,” but Harris herself is yet to be vocal about the position shifts.
While the Harris campaign appears to be pushing a reworked agenda, one political strategist told Fox News Digital that “anonymous on background campaign staffers do not take public policy positions, candidates and elected officials do.”
“The American public should presume that every position taken by Harris during her previous campaign for president and the positions taken by the Biden-Harris administration are exactly hers today, until she herself explains otherwise,” Dallas Woodhouse, American Majority-North Carolina State Director, told Fox.
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Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris waits to speak at a campaign rally at United Auto Workers Local 900 on August 8, 2024 in Wayne, Michigan. Kamala Harris and her newly selected running mate Tim Walz are campaigning across the country this week. (Andrew Harnik)
“The American public will never accept a candidate changing all their stated positions from just a few years ago without thorough examination and explanation,” he added.
Fracking
Harris said that she would ban fracking if elected during her first presidential bid – a key issue among a critical voting bloc in battleground states such as Pennsylvania.
“There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking, I have a history of working on this issue,” Harris said in 2020.
Republicans, including former President Trump, have used her past comments on the issue to blast her in several campaign ads since she launched her 2024 campaign.
Campaign officials for the Democratic nominee are now saying that Harris will not ban fracking if she’s elected president.
Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appear on stage together during a campaign event at the Liacouras Center at Temple University on August 6, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Andrew Harnik)
“Medicare for All”
Harris published her plan for “Medicare for All” during her 2019 presidential campaign, writing that her goal was to “end these senseless attacks on Obamacare” and that she believes “health care should be a right, not a privilege only for those who can afford it. It’s why we need Medicare for All.”
“The idea is that everyone gets access to medical care. And you don’t have to go through the process of going through an insurance company, having them give you approval, going through the paperwork all of the delay that may require. Let’s eliminate that,” Harris wrote in 2019.
Additionally, then-Senator Harris cosponsored Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Medicare for All Act of 2019.
Despite her past support, a campaign official told Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy that Harris will not push the subject of “Medicare-for-all” this cycle.
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Colin Reed, Republican strategist, former campaign manager, and co-founder of South and Hill Strategies, told Fox News Digital that Harris’ shift appears difficult to believe.
WAYNE, MICHIGAN – AUGUST 08: Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at United Auto Workers Local 900 on August 8, 2024 in Wayne, Michigan. (Andrew Harnik)
“When Vice President Harris ran for the White House five years ago, she was a sitting U.S. Senator and the former attorney general of the largest state in the nation. In other words, an extremely accomplished individual with plenty of time on the national stage to form opinions on the big issues,” Reed told Fox. “The idea that she could over the span of five changes, just change her tune on a dime on a slew of major big ticket items strains credulity,”
Reed highlighted her shift on “Medicare For All,” which he says “would cost $44 trillion dollars – more than our entire $35 trillion dollar national debt.”
“Either she was wrong then or is playing politics now, and voters will figure it out whenever she decides to answer questions in an unscripted setting,” Reed said.
The suggested position shift comes amid Republicans using her past stances on issues, such as fracking, against her 2024 presidential campaign.
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Fox News Digital asked the Harris campaign if she will be personall announcing her new stance on the key issues.
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