Harris insisted that black male voters should not be taken for granted, a response to some polling which shows them drifting toward former President Donald Trump.

In a wide-ranging interview with the same association in which Trump himself faced such a hostile reception this summer, Harris also touched on President Joe Biden’s administration’s attitude toward Israel, the second assassination attempt on her opponent, her past support for reparations, and more.

The Philadelphia event was moderated by Politico’s Eugene Daniels, Tonya Mosley of local public radio station WHYY, and theGrio’s Gerren Gaynor.

The NABJ-sponsored live interview is one of the few solo interrogations Harris has participated in since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee last month. She and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), gave their first joint interview to CNN’s Dana Bash in August.

It also comes one week after Harris and Trump faced off in the City of Brotherly Love for their first and likely only presidential debate.

Two months ago, Trump participated in a live interview with NABJ during its annual summer conference that ended abruptly after several tense moments with the moderators: ABC’s Rachel Scott, Fox News’s Harris Faulkner, and Semafor’s Kadia Goba. The Harris session was less contentious but still offered some new insight into her thinking if she were to become the next president.

Here are the top moments from the interview.

Harris declines to offer new policies on Israel that differ from Biden

One of the key topics of discussion Tuesday focused on Israel’s war with Hamas, which has divided the Democratic Party. The progressive wing of the party has called for the United States to cease funding the Jewish state to end the war, which party leaders have been reluctant to endorse.

Harris reiterated her support for Israel and its right to self-defense after the Oct. 7, 2023, surprise terrorist attack Hamas launched against it. She also reiterated her support for ending the innocent deaths of Palestinians living in Gaza.

However, she did not explicitly explain what new policy she would implement to help hasten a ceasefire deal, which she repeatedly said must be completed.

“I absolutely believe that this war has to end, and it has to end as soon as possible,” Harris said, “and the way that will be achieved is by getting a hostage deal and the ceasefire deal done.”

When asked about how her handling of the war might differ from President Joe Biden’s, Harris said she was supportive of his legacy.

“One of the things that we have done that I am entirely supportive of is the pause that we’ve put on the 2,000-pound bombs,” Harris said.

“I’m not going to disclose private conversations, but I will tell you, I’ve had direct conversations with the prime minister, with the president of Israel, with Egyptian leaders, and with our allies,” she continued. “And I think we’ve made ourselves very clear: This deal needs to get done in the best interest of everyone in the region, including getting those hostages out.”

Harris distances herself from reparations legislation

As the junior senator from California, Harris supported legislation championed by the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee that would have established a federal commission to study the impact of reparations for descendants of enslaved people.

But as a presidential candidate, Harris appeared to distance herself from that bill when pressed by moderators. When questioned about her support, Harris indirectly attacked politicians who have called for more oversight of history lessons in public schools.

“Look, first of all, we just need to speak truth about history in spite of the fact that some people try and erase history and try and teach our children otherwise,” she first said.

After more questioning, she did not explicitly say she would use executive action to implement the legislation. “I think Congress ultimately will have the ability to do this work,” she conceded.

“I’m not discounting the importance of any executive action,” she elaborated. “Because if you’re going to talk about it in any substantial way, there will be hearings, there will be a level of public education and dialogue … and I think that was part of the spirit behind the congressional action thus far.”

Harris tries to make a direct appeal to black men

Before Harris became the Democratic nominee for president, some black male voters had expressed dissatisfaction with Biden, with polling data showing Trump garnering more of their support.

Now that Harris is leading the ticket, black male voters have begun to swing back in her direction, but their vote is not a guarantee, as she acknowledged Tuesday.

“I think it’s very important to not operate from the assumption that black men are in anybody’s pocket,” she said. “Black men are like any other voting group. You’ve got to earn their vote. So I’m working to earn the vote.”

She then pointed to her Economic Opportunity tour, which is focused on black men, as an example of the work she is doing.

“We have so many entrepreneurs in the community who do not have access to capital, but they’ve got great ideas, an incredible work ethic, the ambition, the aspiration, the dream, but don’t have the relationships necessarily,” she said.

Harris also described working on getting billions of dollars into community banks that can provide loans for black men to start small businesses and her recent small business proposals, which call for expanding the tax deduction for startup expenses from $5,000 to $50,000.

Harris reveals her phone call to Trump after second assassination attempt

On Sunday, Trump survived a second assassination attempt while he was at the Trump International Golf Club in Florida. This followed the first attempt on his life in July while he was campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The former president blamed Harris’s and Biden’s “rhetoric” for encouraging the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, to attack him. But Harris did not address those comments and instead elaborated on the phone call she made to Trump on Tuesday before the NABJ event.

“I checked on (him) to see if he was OK, and I told him what I have said publicly, there is no place for political violence in our country,” Harris told the moderators. “I am in this election, in this race, for many reasons, including to fight for our democracy. And in a democracy, there, there is no place for political violence.

“We can and should have healthy debates and discussion and disagreements but not resort to violence to resolve those issues,” Harris continued.

The vice president also said she still has full trust in the Secret Service after the Sunday attack but pointed to minority groups such as LGBT people, immigrants, and women who may not feel safe under a second Trump administration.

“Yes, I feel safe,” Harris said. “I have Secret Service protection, but that doesn’t change my perspective on the importance of fighting for the safety of everybody in our country. And doing everything we can to again lift people up and not beat people down so they feel alone and are made to feel small and made to feel like they’re somehow not a part of it or us.”

Harris previously slammed Trump’s embrace of false claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating pets.

“It’s a crying shame,” the vice president said, reflecting on the fallout from the rumors. “I mean, my heart breaks for this community.”

Harris broadens her pitch to women beyond abortion

As the nation’s first female vice president and possibly the first female president, Harris has championed policies that are meant to appeal to female voters even as she has deflected from the historic nature of her campaign.

Harris discussed her proposals to help families struggling to pay the exorbitant prices of childcare and elder care during the interview.

“My plan is that no family, no working family, should pay more than 7% of their income in child care,” Harris said before reflecting on the scores of women who dropped out of the workforce to care for their families during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She also briefly touched on helping professional care workers, many of whom are women.

“We need to do better for our childcare providers and our hope healthcare providers in terms of ensuring that they receive the wages that they deserve based on the dignity of their work,” Harris said.

Reproductive rights are likely one of the top issues of the 2024 campaign and a key issue that Harris has used to excoriate Trump ahead of their November showdown.

Harris reiterated her support to “proudly” sign any legislation that reaches her desk that will restore the protections of Roe v. Wade.

“Understand what is happening in our country: Over 20 states have what I call Trump abortion ban because I understand how we got here,” Harris said as she slammed Trump for indirectly leading to the fall of Roe.

The vice president pointed to a recent ProPublica article detailing the death of Amber Nicole Thurman, a woman in Georgia who died after doctors waited to perform a dilation and curettage procedure, fearing prosecution under the state’s restrictive abortion laws.

“It appears the people who should have given her healthcare were afraid they’d be criminalized after the Dobbs decision came down laws that make no exception, even for rape or incest,” Harris said.