Kamala Harris storms media with '60 Minutes,' Stern, podcasts

Kamala Harris sits down at Philadelphia's WHYY for National Association of Black Journalists interview

Harris is appearing on 'Call Her Daddy,' Howard Stern, 'The View' and 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert'

(Image credit: Win McNamee / Getty Images)

What happened

Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz faced tough questions on "60 Minutes" Monday night, amid a blitz of interviews with less-traditional media. The Democratic ticket declined most interviews during the first few weeks of their truncated campaign. Then Harris appeared on the basketball-centered podcast "All the Smoke" last week and on "Call Her Daddy" Sunday, and her schedule today (Tuesday) includes Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio show, "The View" and "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert." Walz, who did Fox News Sunday, also sat down for the "SmartLess" podcast and "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Monday.

Who said what

Harris and Donald Trump, who did his own podcast tour last month, recognize the need to "hit every corner of a fragmented media landscape" because a lot of people are avoiding TV news and getting their political information from podcasts and social media, The Wall Street Journal said. Stern, for example, is "estimated to have 10 million viewers, most of whom are non-college educated men," Politico said. "Call Her Daddy" is popular among Gen Z women and "The View" reaches older suburban women. Young men watch late-night TV, and Harris' Univision town hall in Las Vegas on Thursday should hit Hispanic voters.

"As a journalist, I wish both campaigns were doing more tough interviews," Helen Lewis said at The Atlantic. But going on podcasts to reach "normie audiences" in key groups is a "smart tactic." And while Harris' 40-minute appearance on Alex Cooper's "Call Her Daddy" — the No. 2 podcast on Spotify last year — "wasn't a hard-hitting accountability interview," Lewis said, "it did contain a substantive policy discussion."

The Trump campaign "has long depended on its candidate's ability to attract free media attention," The Washington Post said. But it has "shown caution" in recent weeks. Trump backed out of the "60 Minutes" interview — a ritual for every major candidate since 1976, CBS said — "citing, among other things, the network's promise to fact-check him on the air," The New York Times said.

What next?

Unpredictable interviews "always carry the risk of a misstep or ill-chosen phrase," the Post said, but Harris is "locked in a margin-of-error race" and this is "one of the few levers she has left" to expand her audience and break through to disengaged potential voters.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.