Harris meets with black journalists for a rare interview

WASHINGTON– Vice President Kamala Harris will give a rare in-depth campaign interview on Tuesday, taking questions from a trio of journalists from the National Association of Black Journalists, just a month after former President Donald Trump’s appearance before the same organization sparked controversy over race and other issues.

The Trump interview opened a chapter in the campaign in which the Republican nominee repeatedly questioned Harris’ ethnic identity, baselessly claiming that she “turned black” during her professional career. Trump has since repeatedly questioned Harris’ ethnic identity on the campaign trail and during the presidential debate in September.

Harris, the daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother, has repeatedly dismissed Trump’s remarks as “the same old show.” During her debate with Trump in September, she said it was a “tragedy” that he “tried to divide the American people over racial issues.”

Trump, his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, and other Republicans have criticized Harris for largely avoiding interviews with the media and not speaking publicly to reporters covering their campaign rallies. She and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, gave a joint interview with CNN last month. Her campaign team recently announced she would do more local media outreach, and last week she appeared for her first solo television interview since being nominated as the Democratic nominee, answering questions from a Philadelphia station.

In his interview with NABJ, Trump sharply criticized the moderators and at times drew boos and groans from the audience. The interview also sparked debate within the NABJ convention itself, which serves as both a networking and community space for black media professionals and a news event.

PolitiFact, a fact-checking news organization, will be reviewing the Harris interview live, as it did for Trump’s NABJ appearance. As with Trump’s appearance, the audience will consist of NABJ members and college students.

Harris has largely avoided traditional media appearances, focusing instead on rallies, grassroots movements and social media engagement, where the vice president can dodge questions from independent journalists about her policy record and planned agenda.

Tuesday’s event was moderated by Eugene Daniels of Politico, Gerren Gaynor of theGrio and Tonya Mosley of WHYY, a Philadelphia-area public radio station that is co-hosting the event.

NABJ emphasized the importance of hosting the discussion in Philadelphia, a major city in a swing state with a large black population. Philadelphia was also home to one of NABJ’s most important precursor organizations.

For years, the association has invited both major presidential candidates to speak before the convention. Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden all attended NABJ events as presidential candidates or while in office.