Harris talks about black voting, abortion rights and gun control in an interview in Philadelphia • Pennsylvania Capital-Star

A week after debating former President Donald Trump in the City of Brotherly Love, Vice President Kamala Harris returned to Philadelphia on Tuesday to give a wide-ranging interview to a panel of the National Association of Black Journalists in the WHYY studio.

Harris told the audience there are “very few solutions that we haven't thought of” when it comes to gun violence in the United States.

Harris said she and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, are both gun owners. “We don't want to take away anyone's guns, but we need an assault weapons ban,” she said.

In addition to a ban on assault weapons, Harris said she also supports universal background checks and closing loopholes that do not always require dealers at gun shows to register their gun sales.

Politico journalist Eugene Daniels asked Harris about the economic situation, asking “if voters are better off today than they were four years ago.” In response, Harris pointed to several successful policy initiatives of the Biden-Harris administration, including price caps on insulin and prescription drugs, job creation and the low unemployment rate among blacks in the United States.

But there is still work to be done, she added. “Are food prices still too high? Yes,” she said, highlighting her plans for an “opportunity economy” that includes giving first-time home buyers $25,000 as a down payment.

Harris was asked about polls suggesting that black men, particularly young black men, are considering voting for Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.

“I've been asked this question many times and have had to respond that I think it's very important not to assume that black men are in anyone's pocket,” Harris said. “Black men are like any other voting group: They have to earn their vote. So I work to earn the vote and not assume that I'm going to get it because I'm black, but because of my policies and my perspectives. I understand what we need to do to address the needs of all communities.”

Young black men, she added, “really are the backbone of our entire economy, and when they do better economically, we all do better.” She pointed to her plan to provide $50,000 tax credits to small businesses as an example of a measure that would impact young black men who may not have access to the resources they need to become successful entrepreneurs.

Harris also reiterated her support for reinstating the protections of Roe v. Wade – which the U.S. Supreme Court overturned in 2022 – and enshrining them in law. She said Trump is responsible for the abortion bans that have been passed in states since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

“The former president selected three members of the Supreme Court of the United States with the intent of overturning the protections of Roe v. Wade. They did what he intended,” she said. Women should be able to decide for themselves what is best for them, she added, when it comes to their own bodies, “instead of their government telling them what to do — particularly a group of people in these state capitals who think they are in a better position to tell them what to do than they are to know what is in their best interest.”

Harris' roughly 30-minute interview with the NABJ panel was a far cry from an interview with Trump during the NABJ conference in Chicago in July. During that interview, Trump falsely claimed that Harris “accidentally turned black” during the course of her political career, insulted his interviewers and was generally belligerent toward them. Some NABJ members had objected to Trump's appearance, citing his Behavior towards black female journalists in the past.

Trump insults Harris, makes false claims and argues with black journalists at conference

The Trump campaign said Tuesday that “Harris admitted today that she has failed Black Americans.” “She told NABJ that after three and a half years of her failed policies, food prices are too high and the American dream is out of reach for young Americans,” Janiyah Thomas, the Trump campaign's Black Media Director, said in a statement.

Harris also addressed comments made by Trump and Vice President JD Vance inaccurately describing Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.

“The American people deserve and I believe want better,” Harris said. “I know people are deeply disturbed by what is happening to this community in Springfield, Ohio, and it has to stop.”

She also criticized Trump's previous comments about black people, including calling for the execution of five young black men who were convicted of an assault in Central Park and later vindicated, and the false claim that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

“I think most people in our country, regardless of race, are starting to see through this nonsense,” Harris said. “And say, 'You know what, let's turn over a new leaf.'”