Harris called for Americans to ’turn the page’ by electing her as president and faced pointed questions on abortion and a potential pardon for Trump.
Vice President Kamala Harris sat for an interview on NBC News on Oct. 22, discussing her economic plans for the country, contrasting herself with former President Donald Trump, and fielding pointed questions on abortion and her forthrightness with the American people about the state of President Joe Biden’s health.
The 22-minute conversation with Hallie Jackson was Harris’s third interview on a major network since accepting the Democratic nomination for president on Aug. 5. The vice president appeared on CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Oct. 7 and was interviewed on Fox News on Oct. 17.
Here are the takeaways from this most recent interview.
Gender Not an Issue in the Race
Harris said she believes that Americans are ready to turn the page and are ready for a female president. Although Harris is only the second woman to receive a major party nomination for the presidency, she rebuffed Jackson’s assertion that Harris has been reluctant to comment on her gender.
“I’m clearly a woman,” Harris said, chuckling when Jackson raised the issue, adding that voters care more about a candidate’s competence than they do about gender.
“The point that most people really care about is, can you do the job, and do you have a plan to actually focus on them?”
An August poll conducted by The Wall Street Journal indicates a widening gender gap in this election, with men preferring Trump by a margin of 10 percentage points while women support Harris by a margin of 13 points.
Despite that divide, Harris said sexism is not affecting her candidacy.
“The experience that I am having is one in which it is clear that regardless of someone’s gender, you want to know that their president has a plan to lower cost, that their president has a plan to secure America in the context of our position around the world,” she said.
