A five-year-old video of Vice President Kamala Harris touting her support for a fracking ban resurfaced on social media over the weekend, highlighting an issue that has plagued the vice president in her run for the White House.
“Climate change is the single greatest threat facing our world today. That’s why I am committed to passing a Green New Deal, creating clean jobs and finally putting an end to fracking once and for all,” Harris said during a September 2019 appearance on the “Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon.
Harris, who at the time was a California senator and running for the Democrat nomination for president, had touted her support for such a ban at other points in the campaign, including a CNN town hall earlier in the same month when she said there is “no question” that she was “in favor of banning fracking.”
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Vice President Harris (Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)
During her appearance on the “Tonight Show,” which was unearthed by conservative commentators over the weekend, Harris also expressed support for a Green New Deal, a controversial proposal popularized by progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
But the issue of a fracking ban has been the most sticky for Harris during her presidential campaign, with the vice president reversing her stance and vowing not to pursue a ban on fracking during an interview with CNN last month.
“What I have seen is that we can grow, and we can increase a clean energy economy without banning fracking,” Harris said.
Vice President Harris speaks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute leadership conference, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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The issue of a fracking ban is of even more importance in the vital swing state of Pennsylvania, a state where the method of natural gas extraction is a source of employment and enjoys broad support.
Harris currently holds a narrow lead of less than one point in Pennsylvania, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average, coming in at 48.3% support to former President Trump’s 47.6%.
Republican presidential nominee former President Trump speaks at a rally, Sept. 18, 2024, in Uniondale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
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Trump has seized on Harris’ previous push for a fracking ban in recent weeks, arguing during the debate last week that “fracking in Pennsylvania will end on day one” if she is elected president.