Trump and Vance Have Done More Than 10 Times More Media Than Historically Reclusive Harris-Walz Ticket

Photo: Will Lanzoni/CNN

A new analysis from Axios suggests that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance, have done more than 10 times more media than their Democratic counterparts.

Under the headline “The Harris-Walz media strategy: Hide from the press,” reporters Alex Thompson and Torey Van Oot noted that that Trump and Vance have done far more combined TV and print interviews, as well as press conferences, than Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

By Thompson and Van Oot’s count, Harris submitted to only three such media appearances since supplanting President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee on July 21. Since he was tapped by Harris, Walz has participated in just four.

By contrast, Trump has done double their combined amount of press since Harris became his opponent, having made 14 such appearances. Vance, meanwhile, leaves the other three in the dust, having made 59 appearances in that time period.

According to Thompson and Van Oot, “the Harris-Walz ticket is on pace to do fewer interviews and press conferences than any major party’s presidential pairing in modern U.S. history.”

On Tuesday, The New York Times observed that Harris had answered fewer questions in the first two months of her campaign than the 81-year-old Biden did in the last two months of his doomed effort to win reelection, likely because some of her “biggest missteps” have come “during unscripted encounters with journalists.”

The Axios count includes “formal press conference-style Q and A’s, but do not include gaggles or interviews with more ideological commentators.”

Harris has also participated in some friendly radio interviews, including one recent sit-down in which a host kicked off the conversation by telling Harris “you have already made history in so many levels. You’re the first African American and Asian woman to be vice president of the United States and soon, hopefully, president.”