Harris campaign defends having Walz join first interview, facing backlash

Vice President Kamala Harris received criticism for not formally sitting down with the press since launching her presidential campaign. Now, with her first interview lined up , she is facing new backlash for not doing the event alone.

Harris and her running mate Gov. Tim Walz will sit down with CNN's Dana Bash Thursday. The pre-recorded interview is scheduled to air 9 p.m. ET.

The Harris campaign has defended the decision, pointing to a precedent of presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle answering questions together with their running mates.

"For at least 20 years, every ticket, Republican and Democrat, sat for a joint interview," campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz said in a statement to USA Today.

The campaign has said Harris will do solo interviews at a later date, but gave no specifics as to when.

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This will be Harris' first interview since President Joe Biden stepped out of the race and she took on the mantle.

But some have taken issue with the decision to have Walz join her on camera.

"I don’t know if democrats fully realize how damaging the image of the possible first woman president being incapable of giving an interview alone without the presence of a man to help her is," Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, wrote in a post on X Wednesday.

Wayne Dawkins, a historian and professor at Hampton University's Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications, said the pushback is undue.

"Fact of the matter is, she's finally doing the interview," Dawkins said.

"(Bash) gets to ask the questions, and even if it's two people sitting down," he added. "It's CNN's interview. So ask the questions and see how Kamala Harris responds."

Harris' opponents have been even sharper, calling for the Democratic nominee to engage in a live and solo interview.

"She wants to be commander-in-chief and she’s too scared to do an interview without Tim Walz by her side?" communications director for Josh Hawley, R-Miss., Abigail Jackson wrote on X . "Girl power, amirite."

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Dawkins called the criticism "nonsense."

"Pundits everywhere are going to have some nit to pick," he said. "This is why I don't watch Super Bowl pregame shows. There's all this talking about the game ... let's watch the game, because all that pre talk is just foolishness."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Harris campaign defends having Walz join first interview, facing backlash