Harris says she would appoint a Republican to her Cabinet if elected

Vice President Kamala Harris said would like to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet if she’s elected in November.

In a clip of a CNN interview scheduled to air in full Thursday night, Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, said she was committed to welcoming diverse points of view.

“I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion. I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences,” Harris said. “And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican.”

The interview is Harris’ first since she formally became the Democratic nominee after Biden dropped out of the presidential race last month and endorsed her.

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Harris would not be the first Democratic president to appoint Cabinet members from the Republican Party.

President Barack Obama nominated several Republicans to his Cabinet, among them then-Rep. Ray LaHood, of Illinois, as transportation secretary and Robert Gates as defense secretary.

Republican presidents have also appointed members of the opposing party, including holdovers from previous administrations.

Robert Work, a Democrat who was deputy defense secretary under Obama, was a holdover in former President Donald Trump's administration.

Republicans have mocked Harris over her lack of interviews since she replaced Biden atop the Democratic ticket. Trump has repeatedly bashed her for not speaking at length with the media.

CNN also asked Harris about policy positions of hers that have changed over the years.

She contended that her values have remained consistent, even as she faces criticism over having changed her position on fracking, which she said she would favor banning during the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries.

"I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed," Harris said.

"I have always believed — and I have worked on it — that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time," she said, highlighting the Biden administration's success in passing the Inflation Reduction Act, which included significant spending to combat climate change.

"We have set goals for the United States of America and, by extension, the globe around when we should meet certain standards for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions," she said.

Harris also argued that she has remained consistent on what's needed to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, detailing her work as California's top prosecutor battling transnational criminal organizations involved in illegal gun, drug and human trafficking.