CNN host says Harris has 'explaining to do' over her past left-wing agenda

CNN and talk show radio host Michael Smerconish said that Vice President Harris has "explaining to do" about some of the left-wing policies she championed prior to becoming the presumptive 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.

The journalist appeared on "CNN This Morning" on Friday to discuss Harris’ attempt to appear moderate, noting she needs to clear up why she has changed her stance on issues since running for president in the 2020 election cycle.

Smerconish declared, "It’s a different Kamala Harris than she who ran initially as a candidate herself."

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Prior to becoming Biden’s Vice President, Harris was a proponent of very liberal policies throughout her political career. As CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell reminded the then-VP candidate in 2020, she was classified as the "most liberal" U.S. senator by government transparency website GovTrack.us, outranking even Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in supporting progressive policies.

While running for president in 2019, Harris declared there was "no question" she favored banning fracking, a stance that she recently rejected. She also promoted far-left defund the police initiatives, including promoting the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which helped bail Black Lives Matter rioters out of jail in 2020. 

Asked about her past support for these causes, Smerconish said on Friday, "Well, I think she has some explaining to do. I mean there have been any number of positions on which it seems in the last couple of months that it’s a different Kamala Harris than she who ran initially as a candidate herself."

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The host then detailed how Harris picking a more moderate Democratic leader for her vice presidential running mate would be useful in tempering the public’s perception of her being far left.

Mentioning Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa. – one of the favorites to become her running mate – Smerconish said, "Shapiro brings the necessary ideological balance. It‘s interesting to me because the very thing that some progressives are raising and saying are problematic for him, I think are advantageous. For example, his support of school vouchers or some of the words that he has used in being critical of antisemitism and some of the protesters in the last several months on college campuses."

"I think it‘s great for Kamala Harris because every time she‘s perceived as, or portrayed as being very far to the left, there‘s Josh Shapiro, who‘s going to lend some ideological balance to that ticket," Smerconish said.

He also noted that some of the other choices on her VP shortlist are good for the same reason. Mentioning Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., the host said he "is central casting good and he provides what she needs in terms of a response to her border policy and whatever that role is that she had in the border."