Media Blitz: Endgame Strategy

Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off a week of media appearances and friendly interviews by sitting down for a conversation with Alexandra Cooper, host of the podcast “Call Her Daddy.” Harris’ friendly interview with Cooper exemplifies the vice president’s hope to reach as many apolitical Americans as possible and get them to the ballot box on Nov. 5, now just four weeks away. 

Harris has been ridiculed by some for a lack of media appearances since her whirlwind campaign began a little over two months ago. Now, as Election Day grows near, Harris is hopping from set to set in hopes that hearing her message becomes unavoidable. 

The Harris campaign, like Donald Trump’s campaign, seems to think the traditional strategy of interviews with mainstream broadcast networks and print journalists serves little purpose in a day and age when voters tend to get political news from less traditional sources. Several of those Harris is sitting down with have openly backed her over Trump for president.

The Harris campaign announced Sunday that she would appear Tuesday on ABC’s “The View,” Howard Stern’s satellite radio program, and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Colbert is a fundraiser for Democrats while Stern endorsed Biden in 2020. 

Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, will appear Monday on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Kimmel endorsed the Democratic ticket last month.

Harris is also appearing in an interview with the CBS News program “60 Minutes” that is set to air Monday night, and participating Thursday in a Univision town-hall event in Las Vegas, Nevada. Harris’ sit-down with podcast host Cooper gives America insight into which issues Harris is most likely to focus on in her conversations this week.

The interview focused on women’s issues including abortion, a topic the Harris campaign would like to focus on as much as possible going into the home stretch. Harris’ appearance on “Call Her Daddy” is also part of a media strategy to reach a larger audience. Cooper’s podcast is the fourth-most listened to podcast across all listening platforms and her audience leans heavily female – Cooper herself estimates 90% of her listeners are women. 

Cooper jokes that she was not the right person to discuss fracking with the vice president, but the conversation did touch on student loans and housing prices, topics of interest for young Americans struggling to get started in adulthood. Cooper told listeners that she invited Trump to the show as well but did not say whether she had heard back.

Trump may not appear on “Call Her Daddy” but has done his fair share of pop interviews. The former president and his running mate, J.D. Vance, have appeared on shows like “Full Send” and have been interviewed by dude-influencers like Logan Paul, Theo Von, and Adin Ross. These hosts and streamers rarely ask hard-hitting questions or press a candidate to expand on their thoughts or stances, but it is a powerful way to amp up one’s base or reach an audience that might not otherwise be listening. 

With the election less than one month away and the race as tight as ever – Harris is up 2.1 points in the RCP National Average and Trump leads by 0.1 in the RCP Battleground States Average – America can expect to see more of the candidates as they attempt to make their respective messages loud and clear.