Kamala Harris touted as centrist candidate by media after DNC: 'Sounded a little bit more like' Reagan

Once considered one of the most progressive members of Congress, Vice President Kamala Harris was widely depicted as a moderate in the media following her Democratic nomination acceptance speech, according to media pundits and news hosts who compared the Democratic presidential nominee to Ronald Reagan and argued the party "captured the center."

"They talk about her, the Republicans, the Trump Republicans, as a San Francisco liberal, as a radical. They call her comrade Kamala," ABC's Jonathan Karl said Friday. "If you take out the section on abortion rights, much of this speech could have been delivered at a Republican convention, a Republican convention before Trump." 

Harris delivered her speech on Thursday and accepted the Democratic nomination, speaking about key issues such as the border, the economy and more. She also spoke about charting a "new way forward" and vowed to be a president for "all Americans." 

"Quite a contrast from the way she ran for president the first time when she tried to get the nomination four years ago. This is a Kamala Harris that sounded a little bit more like Maggie Thatcher or Ronald Reagan, especially on national security, than like Bernie Sanders," Karl continued. 

CNN's Paul Begala and ABC's Jon Karl suggested VP Kamala Harris appealed to the center and to Republicans on Friday after her DNC speech. (Left: (Photo by Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images for Politicon), Center: (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images), Right: (Photo by Michael Le Brecht II/ABC via Getty Images))

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ABC's George Stephanopoulos, who worked for Bill Clinton, said Harris' speech made him think of "moderates, middle class, middle America."

Paul Begala, also a former advisor to Bill Clinton, claimed the Democratic Party "captured the center."

"Elections in this country are won in the middle, the moderate mainstream. And [Jeff] Zeleny talked about Hillary's convention in 2016. I was there. John Allen, a retired four-star general, stood up to credential her on national security, and far-left extremists on the floor of the Democratic Party convention booed him. That didn't happen here," Begala said on CNN on Friday. "This is a party that has moved to the middle."

Begala was also asked if Harris was trying to position herself between Donald Trump and President Biden. 

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"It’s moderation. She’s being her authentic self. This is a woman who was a prosecutor. This is a woman who is an attorney general. She has a record. This is not positioning by Kamala Harris, this is who she is," he said. 

"The party had, at times, been drawn to the extreme left … This is her authentic self as a moderate mainstream American." 

CNN's Van Jones suggested before her speech on Thursday that Harris had essentially play-acted as a progressive during her far-left 2020 presidential campaign, which included calling for the elimination of private health insurance.

"When she was saying all that stuff and doing all that stuff, did you notice she didn‘t seem comfortable in herself during that primary?" Jones asked. "Because that‘s not Kamala Harris. And we know that. What you‘re seeing now, confident, I‘m the prosecutor, I‘m going to deal with these problems, that's actually [her.]"

CNN host John Berman said Friday that Harris' message on national security was "the kind of statement you would have heard at a Republican convention 20 years ago."

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris appears on stage during the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 22, 2024, in Chicago.  (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

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Harris said during her speech that she would "will never waver in defense of America’s security and ideals, because in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand and I know where the United States belongs."

During ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, Politico's Jonathan Martin said it was incredible that the Democratic Party had "given her a pass effectively to reinvent herself wholecloth from her 2019 ill-fated bid for the presidency."

"She knows she has to run to the political center, and she is doing that, and she's running from how she ran in 2019, and the party just wants to beat Trump. So, of course, they're fine with that, they're not going to say a peep about it, but that's clearly what she's doing," he added. 

Harris has taken criticism for avoiding the media since emerging as the nominee and thus being truly challenged on some of her apparent pivots, or whether she would hold to them if she were elected. 

CNN's Jones declared on Thursday that the Left "just died" after Harris' speech, despite Harris previously holding several left-wing positions. 

 Kamala Harris speaks on Day 4 of the Democratic National Convention. (REUTERS/Kevin Wurm)

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"These guys want to fight not just Biden in the past," Jones said. "They want to fight this sort of anti-woke war against a left that just died in here and something new just got born."

He told the GOP that, "Kamala Harris Democrats are a different thing for you guys to fight." 

ABC's Mary Bruce touted Harris' remarks on Saturday and said the vice president attempted to appeal to Independents and Republicans.

"You had superstars like Oprah Winfrey coming out there and reminding folks she too is an independent," Bruce said.

The New York Times also reported on Friday that Harris "centrism" was working.

The Harris and the Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Fox News' Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report.

Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.