4 takeaways from Harris’s CNN town hall

Vice President Harris largely stuck to her talking points during a CNN town hall moderated by Anderson Cooper on Wednesday, fielding questions from voters in the crucial state of Pennsylvania.

Harris also answered questions from Cooper on a variety of topics including the economy, immigration, the war in the Middle East, as well as assessments of former President Trump.

The vice president stayed on script for much of the forum in Delaware County, Pa., but also tackled personal topics including grief, her faith and mistakes in her life and professional career. She agreed to the town hall after the prospect of another debate against Trump appeared unlikely. The Republican presidential candidate opted not to participate in the town hall, which CNN also invited him to.

Here are four takeaways from the night.

Harris overly relies on stump speech 

Harris largely relied on her typical talking points during interviews and stump speeches when it came to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, immigration, the economy, how she would lead differently than President Biden, and other issues, keeping her answers safe and avoiding making news when asked by voters on hot-button topics.

On immigration, Cooper questioned if she felt the Biden administration should have issued an executive order sooner to limit asylum at the U.S. southern border in order to curb the influx of migrants. 

“I think we did the right thing,” she said, adding that the “best thing” would be bipartisan work on immigration reform from Congress. 

The vice president then reverted to blaming Trump for his hand in ending a negotiation among bipartisan senators earlier this year when pressed on immigration, avoiding throughout her campaign on commenting on if Biden should have acted unilaterally earlier.

She was later asked by a voter about what she would “do to ensure that not another Palestinian dies due to bombs being funded by U.S. tax dollars.” The vice president turned to her typical talking points again by calling for the war to end and for security for Palestinians and the Israelis.

“Far too many innocent Palestinian civilians have been killed. It’s unconscionable,” she said, adding that she thinks there is a current opportunity to end the war and bring the hostages held by Hamas home given the recent killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

The Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza has led to protests from pro-Palestinian Americans, raising concerns among Democrats about whether anger on the issue will hurt Democrats’ support among Arab and Muslim Americans, as well as young voters.

Harris agrees Trump is a fascist

Harris agreed that she believes Trump is a “fascist” but again avoided using that word to label her political rival directly. 

When Cooper asked her, “Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?” noting that she had not outright said that word to describe him, she responded, “Yes I do. Yes I do.”

When asked later about her pro-Israel stance and what she would say to voters who are thinking about supporting a third-party candidate because of the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza, she alluded to Trump being fascist.

“For many people who care about this issue, they also care about bringing down the price of groceries, who also care about our democracy and not having a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist,” she said.

Cooper also asked Harris if she believes Trump is antisemitic, and she would not agree, instead calling him “dangerous” and “a danger to the well-being and security of America.”

John Kelly, Trump’s ex-White House chief of staff, said the 45th president “certainly falls into the general definition of fascist” in an interview in The New York Times this week, prompting a conversation about whether Trump should be labeled as such.

Harris gave a speech earlier Wednesday to respond to Kelly’s remarks, during which she argued that Trump has become more unstable, wants unchecked power and quoted the retired general in labeling Trump a fascist.

Harris gets personal on religion, grief

The vice president took the opportunity to present a more personal side of herself to voters when she was asked about her faith and how she handles grief. 

“I was raised to believe in a loving God. To believe that your faith is a verb,” Harris told voters, adding, “You live your life.” 

“Your work and your life’s work should be to think about how you can serve in a way that is uplifting other people,” she said. “That guides a lot about how I think about my work.” 

She recalled her conversation with her pastor the day Biden dropped out of the 2024 race and endorsed her, saying she “needed a prayer” in that moment. She added that she prays every day and “sometimes twice a day.”

Harris, who frequently invokes her late mother, also addressed how she approaches grief in response to a question from a woman who lost her husband a year ago.

“You don’t stop grieving,” Harris said when asked by Cooper if she still grieves for her mother, who died in 2009.

“It is important to try and remember them as they lived and not as they died, because the grief can really weigh you down,” she said. “I don’t think there’s any correct or proper way to grieve, and the most important thing is I think that people don’t suppress what they are feeling at the moment.”

Harris addresses her weaknesses and mistakes

Harris admitted she has made “many mistakes” when asked by Cooper to identify one from her past.

“If you’ve ever parented a child, you know you’ve made lots of mistakes,” she said. “In my role as vice president, I think I’ve probably worked very hard at making sure that I am well-versed on issues and I think that is very important. I think it’s a mistake not to be well-versed on an issue and be compelled to answer a question.” 

Harris was originally asked by a voter about which weaknesses she brings to the table and how she plans to overcome them while in office.

Harris said she was “certainly not perfect,” but went on to identify what she said was a strength.

“I may not be quick to have the answer as soon as you ask it about a specific policy issue sometimes, because I’m going to want to research it. I’m going to want to study it,” she said. “I’m kind of a nerd sometimes, I confess. And some might call that a weakness, especially if you’re in an interview.”