Vice President Kamala Harris said in a CNN interview Thursday she has been against a fracking ban since 2020—but her messaging on the issue has been less clear than she claimed.
Democratic presidential candidate US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at ... [+]
In a 2019 CNN climate town hall as a presidential candidate, Harris said “there’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.”
On Thursday night, Harris said she has since changed her mind, and “I made that clear on the debate stage in 2020,” presumably referring to her vice-presidential debate with Mike Pence.
But at that debate, Harris didn’t actually say she changed her own position on the issue—instead she said then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden “will not end fracking.”
Harris didn’t explicitly say why her position on fracking changed when CNN raised the question on Thursday, but said she now believes “we can grow and we can increase a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking.”
Former President Donald Trump and his allies have repeatedly attacked Harris over her 2019 comments about fracking, particularly to voters in Pennsylvania, the country’s second-largest natural gas producer and a crucial swing state.
Harris made the comments during her first sit-down interview, alongside her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, since announcing her run for president, following pressure to speak to the press and criticism from Trump and his allies. The exchange about fracking was one of the more notable moments from the interview, in which she mostly reiterated her policy positions and didn’t divulge any new details.
Harris defended Biden’s economic agenda when asked about inflation, telling CNN she and the president had to “recover” the economy after the Covid-19 pandemic. “There’s more to do, but that’s good work,” she said, noting inflation has fallen in recent months and repeating her commitments to make housing more affordable and tamp down on price gouging.
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