Kamala Harris says her biggest failure has been ‘to not get out of DC more’

Comes as she the vice president faces lagging approval ratings

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Vice President Kamala Harris said in an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation that her biggest failure has been not leaving Washington DC more.

The question was part of a longer interview between Ms Harris and host Margaret Brennan that will be broadcast on Sunday morning. Ms Brennan asked the vice president what she thinks her biggest failure has been in her first year in office.

“To not get out of DC more,” Ms Harris said, laughing. The vice president said that when she and President Joe Biden came into office, the coronavirus pandemic had already started and the two could not travel as much.

“A large part of the relationship that he and I have built has been being in this, you know, together in the same office for hours on end, doing Zooms or whatever because we couldn’t get out of DC,” she said.

Ms Harris said when it came to fighting for voting rights, child care or maternal health, which she considers a top priority, it is important to meet with people who are affected by policies or lack thereof, which allows her to understand what their priorities are.

“People have a right to know and believe that their government their government actually sees and hears them,” she said. “My biggest concern is I don't ever want to be in a bubble when it comes to being aware of and in touch with what people need at any given moment.”

Despite the inability to travel as much as she would like, Ms Harris has been able to travel to multiple areas. In recent weeks, she’s visited places like Charlotte, North Carolina and Columbus, Ohio to promote the administration’s signature infrastructure law. She also visited France to meet with President Emmanuel Macron.

At the same time, Ms Harris, whom the president charged with handling migrant arrivals at the US-Mexico border, was criticised when she laughed off a question from NBC’s Lester Holt about why she hadn’t visited the border, which she later did.

Ms Harris’s approval ratings have also lagged. The Los Angeles Times reported she has a roughly 52 per cent unfavourable rating.