When Is Kamala Harris Going to Hold a Press Conference?

In the ten days since Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, Kamala Harris has been everywhere. She is a media sensation. Her visage is a ubiquitous presence online. Cossetted by the Biden campaign she inherited, Harris’s message and profile have been tightly controlled, but her visibility conveys the false impression that voters are privy to an unfiltered version of the Democratic Party’s new presidential nominee. That’s apparently just how the press likes it.

There are ways in which a campaign can demonstrate both confidence in its candidate and respect for the voters it hopes to persuade by Election Day. Candidates can sit down for one-on-one interviews with professional journalists, though those outings are subject to post-production editing and even adulteration. They can participate in town halls with voters, but the questions candidates are expected to field are tightly vetted and, therefore, provide the campaign an opportunity to put rehearsed responses into practice. The most revealing exposure to which a candidate can submit is a prolonged press conference — and that’s precisely what Harris needs to do. Indeed, we know that’s what she needs to do because it was only a few weeks ago that Democratic political professionals and their allies insisted that was what Biden had to do.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

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In the ten days since Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, Kamala Harris has been everywhere. She is a media sensation. Her visage is a ubiquitous presence online. Cossetted by the Biden campaign she inherited, Harris’s message and profile have been tightly controlled, but her visibility conveys the false impression that voters are privy to an unfiltered version of the Democratic Party’s new presidential nominee. That’s apparently just how the press likes it.

There are ways in which a campaign can demonstrate both confidence in its candidate and respect for the voters it hopes to persuade by Election Day. Candidates can sit down for one-on-one interviews with professional journalists, though those outings are subject to post-production editing and even adulteration. They can participate in town halls with voters, but the questions candidates are expected to field are tightly vetted and, therefore, provide the campaign an opportunity to put rehearsed responses into practice. The most revealing exposure to which a candidate can submit is a prolonged press conference — and that’s precisely what Harris needs to do. Indeed, we know that’s what she needs to do because it was only a few weeks ago that Democratic political professionals and their allies insisted that was what Biden had to do.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.