Vice President Kamala Harris could be ‘playing politics’ by allowing her subordinates to take the lead on her making major policy shifts, rather than pushing them herself, a Republican strategist says.

Unnamed officials have announced Harris’ new stances, reversing positions she had previously stated on issues such as fracking and ‘Medicare for All,’ but Harris herself has not yet publicly addressed these changes.

While the Harris campaign appears to be pushing a reworked agenda, one political strategist told Fox News Digital that ‘anonymous, on background campaign staffers do not take public policy positions, candidates and elected officials do.’

Dallas Woodhouse, State Director for American Majority-North Carolina, a nonprofit conservative training organization, said that Americans should assume that every position taken by Harris during her previous presidential campaign for President and the positions taken by the Biden-Harris administration are exactly hers today, ‘until she herself explains otherwise.’ 

‘The American public will never accept a candidate changing all their stated positions from just a few years ago without thorough examination and explanation,’ he added.

Harris advisers recently told Axios that ‘Harris doesn’t want to be completely defined by the Biden-Harris record.’ The publication reported that she is seeking to distance herself from Biden on several issues, including his economic policies.

Fox News Digital asked the Harris campaign if she plans to personally announce her new stance on the key issues but did not receive an immediate response.

These are some of the major issues on which she has reversed or walked back her views.

1. Fracking

Harris said during her first presidential bid in 2019 that she would ban fracking if elected – a key issue among a critical voting bloc in battleground states like Pennsylvania.

‘There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking, I have a history of working on this issue,’ Harris said in 2020.

Republicans, including former President Trump, have used her past comments on the issue to blast her in several campaign ads since she launched her 2024 campaign.

But campaign officials for the Democratic nominee are now saying that Harris will not ban fracking if she’s elected president.

2. ‘Medicare for All’

Harris published a plan for ‘Medicare for All’ during her 2019 presidential election, writing that her goal was to ‘end these senseless attacks on Obamacare’ and that she believes ‘health care should be a right, not a privilege only for those who can afford it. It’s why we need Medicare for All.’

‘The idea is that everyone gets access to medical care. And you don’t have to go through the process of going through an insurance company, having them give you approval, going through the paperwork all of the delay that may require. Let’s eliminate that,’ Harris wrote in 2019.

Additionally, then-Senator Harris cosponsored Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Medicare for All Act of 2019.

Despite her past support, a campaign official told Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy that Harris will not push the subject of ‘Medicare-for-all’ this cycle.

Colin Reed, a Republican strategist, previous campaign manager, and co-founder of South and Hill Strategies, expressed skepticism regarding the credibility of Harris’ recent policy change.

‘When Vice President Harris ran for the White House five years ago, she was a sitting U.S. Senator and the former attorney general of the largest state in the nation. In other words, an extremely accomplished individual with plenty of time on the national stage to form opinions on the big issues,’ Reed told Fox. ‘The idea that she could, over the span of five years, just change her tune on a dime on a slew of major big ticket items strains credulity,’

Reed said her shift on Medicare For All ‘would cost $44 trillion dollars – more than our entire $35 trillion dollar national debt.’

‘Either she was wrong then or is playing politics now, and voters will figure it out whenever she decides to answer questions in an unscripted setting.’

3. No Taxes on Tips

Under the current Biden-Harris Internal Revenue Service rules, taxpayers must report all tip money as income on their tax returns. Harris has supported measures that allowed the IRS to track and tax workers’ tips and even cast a tie-breaking vote in 2022 to pass legislation that increased IRS funding for this exact purpose. 

However, Harris recently said that she supports ending taxes on tips for service worker employees – an idea floated earlier this summer by Trump, who received plenty of positive feedback.

‘We’ll continue our fight for working families of America,’ Harris said at a recent campaign rally. ‘Including minimum wage, and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers.’

4. The Border Crisis

Vice President Kamala Harris has previously supported rolling back Trump-era border policies but is taking a stronger position on the southern border crisis this election cycle.

When record numbers of migrants were coming through the border in 2022, Harris said that ‘the border is secure,’ during an appearance on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press.’

Harris was criticized by border state Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, shortly thereafter, who told CNN that ‘the border is not secure.’

Harris is now making border security a top priority for her 2024 campaign, talking tough on the campaign trail and suggesting in a new campaign ad titled, ‘Tougher,’ that more needs to be done.

‘Fixing the border is tough, so is Kamala Harris,’ a voice in the ad can be heard saying. 

‘Kamala Harris has spent decades fighting violent crime. As a border state prosecutor, she took on drug cartels and jailed gang members for smuggling weapons and drugs across the border,’ a narrator says. ‘As vice president, she backed the toughest border control bill in decades. And as president, she will hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking.’

Lawyers for former President Trump are requesting his sentencing hearing in New York v. Trump be delayed until after the November presidential election, citing ‘naked election-interference objectives.’ 

Trump was found guilty in an unprecedented criminal trial on all counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, following a six-week trial stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation.

Trump has moved to overturn his criminal conviction in the Manhattan case after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a former president has substantial immunity for official acts committed while in office. 

His initial sentencing was set for July 11 — just days before the Republican National Convention, where he was set to be formally nominated as the 2024 GOP presidential nominee, but Judge Juan Merchan agreed to delay that until Sept. 18. 

Trump attorney Todd Blanche on Thursday moved to further delay that sentencing hearing. 

‘The Court should adjourn any sentencing in this case, though one should not be necessary because dismissal and vacatur of the jury’s verdicts are required based on Presidential immunity, until after the 2024 Presidential election,’ Blanche wrote in a letter to Merchan. 

Blanche argued that the case ‘should be dismissed’ and pointed to the fact that Vice President Kamala Harris, in her capacity as the Democratic presidential nominee, and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, in his capacity as the Democratic vice presidential nominee, ‘wrongly referred to this case in a public speech.’ 

Blanche also pointed to Merchan’s daughter’s work at Authentic Campaigns, which represents top Democratic candidates. 

‘Sentencing is currently scheduled to occur after the commencement of early voting in the Presidential election,’ Blanche wrote. ‘By adjourning sentencing until after the election — which is of paramount importance to the entire nation, including tens of millions of people who do not share the views of Authentic, its executives, and its clients — the Court would reduce, even if not eliminate, issues regarding the integrity of any future proceedings.’ 

Blanche stressed that there is no need ‘to rush.’ 

‘Setting aside naked election-interference objectives, there is no valid countervailing reason for the Court to keep the current sentencing date on the calendar,’ Blanche wrote. ‘There is no basis for continuing to rush.’ 

He added, ‘Accordingly, we respectfully request that any sentencing, if one is needed, be adjourned until after the Presidential election.’ 

In his arguments for dismissal, Blanche argued that Bragg offered official acts evidence during the six-week-long unprecedented criminal trial. Blanche said that included official White House communications with staffers like Hope Hicks, Madeleine Westerhout and others. 

The Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. United States that a former president has substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts in office but not for unofficial acts. The high court said Trump is immune from criminal prosecution for ‘official acts’ but left it to the lower court to determine exactly where the line between official and unofficial is.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss the possibility of him dropping out of the race and endorsing her in exchange for a position in her administration.

Kennedy, whose long-shot bid for president took a hit earlier this week when a judge ruled his name should not appear on New York’s ballot, sought out the meeting with Harris in hopes of landing a potential Cabinet secretary position in her future administration, according to a report from the Washington Post.

Harris and her campaign have yet to respond with an offer to meet the independent candidate, the report notes, nor have they shown any interest in entertaining his proposal.

The longshot contender’s outreach was made through intermediaries, and comes after Kennedy made similar overtures to former President Trump during a meeting at last month’s convention in Milwaukee, which also resulted in no agreement between the two sides.

Kennedy, who polling has shown as one of the most disruptive independent candidates in decades, could be looking to leverage his position and drop out of the race, throwing his weight and considerable pull with his supporters behind the candidate who will allow him to continue having an influence past the election.

Nevertheless, Kennedy has continued to campaign and make regular media appearances with the expectation that he can win the election, the report notes, though he has left open the possibility of meeting with or getting out of the way of either Harris or Trump if they share an openness for his vision for the country.

‘From the beginning of this campaign, we were saying people should be talking to each other,’ Kennedy told the Washington Post. ‘That is the only way of unifying the country.’

Kennedy also expressed hope that Harris would reconsider his offer to meet, arguing that it is a ‘strategic mistake’ for the Democrat’s campaign.

‘That’s my perspective,’ Kennedy said. ‘I think they ought to be looking at every opportunity. I think it is going to be a very close race.’

The independent candidate would later take to social media, saying in a post on X Thursday that he has no intention of endorsing Harris.

‘VP Harris’s Democratic Party would be unrecognizable to my father and uncle and I cannot reconcile it with my values,’ Kennedy said in the post. ‘I have no plans to endorse Kamala Harris for President. I do have a plan to defeat her.’

Meanwhile, speculation continues that Kennedy and the Trump campaign could come to an agreement to bring the independent candidate into the fold. According to the Washington Post, the independent candidate was spotted at a hotel not far from Trump’s florida home and campaign headquarters.

Speaking to the Washington Post on the condition of anonymity, Trump campaign advisers said that they are in touch with Kennedy’s senior team and that there is an expectation he will drop out and throw his support behind the former president.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

Kennedy also noted he has had no contact with the Democratic Party since launching his independent campaign, which sparked a legal battle with the Democratic National Committee in an attempt to derail his and other third party campaigns.

‘The only contact I have with the DNC is them suing me through intermediaries,’ Kennedy told the Washington Post.

Reached for comment, the Kennedy campaign referred Fox News Digital to his Thursday post.

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

Ohio Sen. JD Vance announced Thursday that he has accepted an invitation to debate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Oct. 1. 

‘The American people deserve as many debates as possible, which is why President Trump has challenged Kamala to three of them already,’ Vance wrote in a post on X. ‘Not only do I accept the CBS debate on October 1st, I accept the CNN debate on September 18th as well. I look forward to seeing you at both!’ 

Walz, who is Vice President Harris’ running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket, said on X yesterday ‘See you on October 1, JD.’ 

CBS News said in a prior statement that it invited both candidates to a debate in New York City, with Oct. 1 being one of the available dates. 

‘We look forward to their responses and providing voters with an opportunity to hear directly from the vice-presidential candidates,’ the network said. 

Although Vance said on X that he would debate Walz on CNN on Sept. 18 – it’s not immediately clear if Walz will attend that date. 

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

CNN is quoting a spokesperson as saying that the network ‘invited both Senator Vance and Governor Walz to a Vice Presidential debate this fall, and Senator Vance has accepted.’ 

‘We are always in communication with the campaigns around opportunities for the American public to hear from leading candidates for President and Vice President of the United States, and we look forward to this programming in the fall,’ the spokesperson added. 

The Harris campaign has remained mum on when Vice President Kamala Harris will hold a formal press conference, or why she has not held one since she emerged as the Democratic Party’s nominee, while former President Donald Trump prepares to hold his second press conference in a week this afternoon.

Harris became the de facto Democratic nominee on July 21, when President Biden exited the race and passed the torch to Harris through an endorsement. Harris has not held a formal press conference or joined a sit-down interview with the media in the 25 days since Biden endorsed her and she officially clinched the nomination in a subsequent ‘virtual’ roll-call vote less than two weeks later.

Fox News Digital reached out to the campaign this week asking if there were plans to schedule a formal press conference and when, as well as inquiring why the vice president has not held one in more than three weeks. The campaign did not respond to the requests. 

Campaign spokespeople have been pressed about the issue during interviews on news shows, but have also demurred on giving an answer. Instead, both Harris and members of her campaign have said she plans to hold a sit-down interview by the end of August. Details on a date or which outlet will hold the interview have not yet been released. 

‘I’ve talked to my team, I want us to get an interview scheduled before the end of the month,’ Harris said last week after a campaign event in Michigan. 

The vice president has been criss-crossing the country over the last roughly three weeks as she works to earn support from voters. Biden dropped out of the race amid mounting concerns surrounding his mental acuity and 81 years of age, leaving Harris with just under 100 days to campaign. 

Harris has taken a handful of questions from the media while on the campaign trail, but she has snubbed the media by not holding pressers or sit-down interviews. Time magazine earlier this month published a glowing cover story on Harris, but the vice president didn’t agree to an interview for the piece. Instead, that article quoted aides and allies who lauded Harris as a formidable candidate against former President Donald Trump. 

Pressure has built on the campaign to hold a press conference, including CNN’s Jim Acosta questioning Harris communications director Michael Tyler this week on air. 

‘I’m sure this is not going to be the first time you’ve heard this question, but the Trump campaign is also going after the vice president for not doing enough interviews, for not holding a press conference. Would it kill you guys to have a press conference? Why hasn’t she had a press conference?’ Acosta asked. 

Tyler said that she and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have been ‘busy’ traveling across the country, citing multiple campaign rallies.

‘Michael, you know a campaign rally isn’t really a press conference,’ Acosta said to Tyler. ‘Why hasn’t she had a press conference? She’s the vice president, she can handle the questions, why not do it?’ 

Tyler said that Harris will hold a press conference at some point and would sit down for an interview with a media outlet by the end of the month. 

The left-leaning Washington Post editorial board also challenged Harris over dodging the media on Sunday, saying of her opponent, ‘At least he has taken questions.’ 

Trump and allies of the 45th president have used Harris’ lack of media availability as a point of attack. 

​​’It’s pretty sad when you think that somebody that does this for a living can’t answer a question or is afraid to do an interview, and in her case, with a very friendly interview. She’s got all friendly interviewers,’ Trump said of Harris Monday evening during his roughly two-hour interview with tech billionaire Elon Musk on X Space. 

Some have said that Harris is pulling a move from Biden’s 2020 playbook, when Biden carried out a cloistered campaign strategy during the pandemic, which earned him the nickname ‘Basement Joe’ from Trump. 

‘Kamala Harris should absolutely hold a press conference. One would expect it when she names her vice-presidential pick. But we cannot expect her to break from Biden’s serial avoidance of press conferences,’ NewsBusters executive editor Tim Graham previously told Fox News Digital.

‘Since the 2020 campaign, we have witnessed the bizarre spectacle of Donald Trump granting wide access to networks that suggest he’s a fascist and hammer him daily, while Biden and Harris won’t grant interviews to media outlets that gurgle all over them and their ‘historic accomplishments,’’ he continued. ‘Either they think the press can never be servile enough, or they are projecting a complete lack of confidence in their efforts to put complete sentences together.’ 

Some supporters of the vice president say that her strategy of avoiding the media is a winning one as she continues building out her campaign before the DNC in Chicago next week.  

‘Where is it written that you have to sit down for a press interview?’ longtime Democratic consultant James Carville told the New York Times. ‘They’ve had to pick a vice president, plan a convention, move around, do this, do that, and she’s already agreed to a debate.’

Meanwhile, Trump has been more available to the media, holding press conferences at his homes in Florida and New Jersey, in addition to campaigning, and joining a two-hour conversational interview with Musk this week. Musk invited Harris to join him for a similar interview ahead of the election, but the campaign has not said whether Harris will accept.

Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood contributed to this article.