‘They’re Holding Him Back’: Influential Liberal Pundit Says Harris Campaign Basement Strategy Backfired During Debate

Vox co-founder and The New York Times columnist Ezra Klein said Thursday that Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign’s strategy to keep its candidates out of the spotlight backfired during the vice presidential debate.

Harris and her running mate, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have participated in few interviews and media appearances as they run the clock to the Nov. 5 election. Klein said this strategy has “leashed” Walz from building onto his skills to communicate effectively on a debate stage.

“ has taken this guy who has shown himself to be an incredibly effective communicator when unleashed, and the Harris campaign has leashed him,” Klein said. “Harris does almost no interviews, no tough interviews. And they have put Tim Walz on the same diet. And so unlike J.D. Vance who’s doing all these tough interviews and getting into fights constantly with the media and sharpening his rhetorical blades and realizing how he can answer these questions and testing and testing and testing his lines, not only is Harris not doing that, but Walz is really good at it, that’s why they picked him on some level.”

“He’s not doing it either. And I’m not just talking here about Fox News. Put him on Sports Talk Radio podcasts. Put him on Lex Friedman, try to get him on Joe Rogan. Try to get him where these young men you need to win over are … But they’re not doing that and they’re holding him back,” Klein continued.

Klein said it was “evident” that Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance participates in many interviews with opposition media just by watching him on the debate stage, and argued Harris and Walz could be better at it if they showed up for more media appearances.

During the debate, Walz faltered through a question without giving a clear answer on why he falsely said he was in Hong Kong during the pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, in 1989. Some in the liberal media, including on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,”