He was hoping to get elected. You need to have broad popular support to get elected (see Trump), hence the "views".
Some time later it became apparent that he is not going to be elected and elections will not be the thing, so the new plan was getting paid by State Dept NGOs, with corresponding change to "views".
My personal take on Navalny is that he mostly was a charismatic opportunist, but eventually that lured him in a trap.