Newswise — Vice President Kamala Harris faced tough questions from Fox News anchor Bret Baier. Throughout the tense 30-minute interview, they addressed immigration, her differences with President Biden, and Trump's controversial rhetoric.

In a bid to reach moderate Republicans, Harris highlighted her growing endorsements from former Trump officials and responded to attacks from Trump with sharp rebuttals. While Trump's campaign criticized her performance, Harris' team emphasized that she effectively communicated to a new audience and showcased her resilience.

Faculty experts at the George Washington University are available to offer insight, analysis and commentary on Harris’s performance and her efforts to reach across the aisle. If you would like to speak with an expert, please contact GW Media Relations Specialist Tayah Frye at [email protected].

Campaign Implications

Peter Loge is the director of GW’s School of Media and Public Affairs. He has nearly 30 years of experience in politics and communications, having served as a deputy to the chief of staff for Sen. Edward Kennedy during the 1995 shutdown, a VP at the US Institute of Peace in 2013, and held senior positions for three members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Loge currently leads the Project on Ethics in Political Communication at the School of Media and Public Affairs and continues to advise advocates and organizations.

Todd Belt is the director of the Political Management Program at the GW Graduate School of Political Management. Belt is an expert on the presidency, campaigns and elections, mass media and politics, public opinion, and political humor. In addition to his expertise, Belt is co-author of four books and helps to run GW’s political poll, which recently shared new findings.

Lesley Lopez is the director of Public Relations and Communications program as well as an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Political Management. Lopez is an expert in media relations, digital storytelling, content creation, inclusive strategic communications and coalition building, and writing. She has served as a journalist, founder of a boutique PR firm, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer for the political start-up Run for Something, head of global communications for the U.S.-China Business Council and the Director of Communications for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. She also is currently a state delegate in the Maryland General Assembly, representing District 39, and serves as Deputy Majority Whip.

Imani M. Cheers, an associate professor of digital storytelling, is an award-winning digital storyteller, director, producer, and filmmaker. As a professor of practice, she uses a variety of mediums including video, photography, television, and film to document and discuss issues impacting and involving people of the African Diaspora. Her scholarly focus is on the intersection of women/girls, technology, health, conflict, agriculture, and the effects of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa. Cheers is also an expert on diversity in Hollywood, specifically the representation of Black women in television and film.

Historical Context

Matt Dallek, a professor at GW’s Graduate School of Political Management, is a political historian with expertise in the intersection of social crises and political transformation, the evolution of the modern conservative movement, and liberalism and its critics. Along with four co-authored books, Dallek is the author of Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right, which explores the history and influence of America’s right-wing activism.

Immigration Policy

Elizabeth Vaquera is the inaugural director of the Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute and an Associate Professor of Sociology and Public Policy and Public Administration at the George Washington University. Vaquera's research focuses on vulnerable and diverse groups, particularly Latinos/as and immigrants. Her work has analyzed the character and importance of immigrant status, race, and ethnic identity in outcomes such as education, health, and emotional and social well-being. In addition to an extensive body of work published in leading peer-reviewed journals, Vaquera is the co-author of several books, the most recent of which, Education and Immigration, examines the educational experiences of immigrants and their children living in the U.S.

Cori Alonso-Yoder is an Associate Professor of Fundamentals of Lawyering at the GW Law School. Alonso-Yoder is a nationally recognized scholar on immigration legislation and the impacts of state, local and federal laws on immigrant communities. She specializes on the health policy of immigration.

Media Coverage

Frank Sesno serves as the director of Strategic Initiatives and Professor at the GW School of Media and Public Affairs as well as as the Executive Director of the George Washington University Alliance for a Sustainable Future. An Emmy-award winning journalist, Sesno’s diverse journalism career spanning four decades includes more than two decades at CNN as a White House correspondent, anchor, Sunday talk show host, Washington Bureau Chief, and Special Correspondent. While serving in those roles, he covered presidential campaigns and political conventions, superpower summits, arms negotiations, conflicts in the Middle East and Latin America, and major historical events such as the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the 9/11 terror attacks, and Barack Obama’s historic inauguration as America’s first Black president in 2009.

Jesse J. Holland is an assistant professor and the associate director of the GW School of Media & Public Affairs. He is an award-winning journalist and the author of the first novel featuring comics’ most popular black superhero, The Black Panther. He is a former Race & Ethnicity writer for The Associated Press, having been recognized as one of the few reporters to be credentialed to cover all three branches of the American government during his career: the White House, the Supreme Court and Congress.

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