The Harris-Walz media strategy: Hide from the press
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Photo illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios. Photos: Saul Loeb, Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
The Harris-Walz ticket is on pace to do fewer interviews and press conferences than any major party's presidential pairing in modern U.S. history.
Why it matters: Vice President Harris' team is betting she and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, can avoid many tough interviews and still win as they run down the clock to Election Day.
- That strategy comes even as many voters say they want to learn more about Harris — and as her campaign has said she's changed many of her past liberal positions to more centrist policies.
- The previously press-friendly Walz has joined Harris in largely dodging the media while campaigning before friendly, enthusiastic crowds.
By the numbers: Harris has been a candidate for 59 days and Walz for 44 days because of President Biden's sudden withdrawal as the Democratic nominee on July 21.
- During those 59 days, Republicans Donald Trump and JD Vance have participated in more than 70 interviews and press conferences with TV and print reporters while Harris and Walz have taken part in seven, according to an Axios analysis.
- Vance alone has participated in more than seven times more interviews and press conferences than Harris and Walz combined during that time.
The breakdown since July 21:
- Local TV interviews: Trump, 7; Vance, 15; Harris, 1; Walz, 3.
- National print publications: Trump, 1; Vance, 8; Harris, 1; Walz, 0.
- National TV interviews: Trump, 2; Vance, 24; Harris, 1; Walz, 1.
- Press conferences: Trump, 3; Vance, 12; Harris, 0; Walz, 0. (Vance's press conferences often cater to local reporters and his staffers limit follow-up questions, as The New York Times has noted.)
We didn't include several interviews in the Axios tally because they involved partisan-leaning commentators.
- Trump and Vance's 25-plus interviews during the time period with conservative commentators on Fox News, Newsmax, The New York Post, and other outlets weren't included. We also didn't include Walz's interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.
- Several podcast and radio interviews the candidates did weren't counted for the same reason.
Reality check: Harris' team believes limiting interactions with the press is the right strategy — even if it frustrates reporters, some close to the campaign told Axios.
- Trump and Vance may get more attention for interviews, but that often brings negative attention too — such as when Vance has had to defend his past comments about "childless cat ladies" and when he has spread unverified rumors about immigrants eating residents' pets in Ohio.
- Biden also limited his interviews during the pandemic in 2020 and defeated Trump (he participated in more interviews than Harris has over the same time period, however, including a CNN town hall).
What they're saying: The Harris-Walz campaign declined to make either candidate available for a brief interview.
- The campaign released a statement that said Harris and Walz have been interviewed by a range of media outlets, and it pointed to Harris' appearance this week before the National Association of Black Journalists
- "In each of these settings they answer questions, often tough ones, about the important issues facing Americans in this election and share their views and vision," the statement said.
Between the lines: Harris' approach carries risks at a time when polls have shown that many voters still don't know her or her running mate well.
- An ABC poll in mid-August, before the Democratic convention, found that nearly a third of voters had no opinion of Walz.
Harris has long kept the media at arm's length, but this approach is a departure for Walz.
- As Minnesota's governor, he has taken questions from the local press regularly, despite a tendency to occasionally slip up with misstatements and exaggerations.
Before Harris selected him for the ticket, he was a frequent presence on national media as he sought to boost his profile.
- That's changed: After traveling with Walz in early September, the Minnesota Star Tribune noted that "off the plane, we were kept at a distance of at least 10 feet. Twice, reporters shouted a question and were ignored by Walz."
Zoom out: Neither side is investing much time with local newspaper reporters.
- The only published interview with a local paper in the past two months was Trump's with the Detroit News in August.
- A previous Vance interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer is expected to be published soon, a spokesperson told Axios.
Bottom line: Some of Harris' worst moments as vice president have come during interviews when she made flip or unclear comments about key policies.
- Her campaign is trying to avoid more moments like that.
