Vice President Kamala Harris faced an exodus of staffers early in her tenure, with many alleging a toxic office environment, according to multiple sources.
In 2021 and 2022, Harris had numerous staffers leave her office, with Harris staffers alleging the work environment was rife with incompetence and toxicity, according to Politico in 2021. Now with Harris taking the reins of the former Biden Campaign, questions abound about whether or not the staffing problems will persist in the leadup to the election. (RELATED: FLASHBACK: VP Kamala Harris Promoted Bail Fund That Released Alleged Rioters, Sex Offenders And Woman Beaters)
“People are thrown under the bus from the very top, there are short fuses and it’s an abusive environment,” a source with knowledge of the Harris office told Politico in 2021. “It’s not a healthy environment, and people often feel mistreated. It’s not a place where people feel supported but a place where people feel treated like shit.”
In her first three years in office, Harris had a 91.5% turnover rate on staff, according to OpenTheBooks on Monday. Only four of 47 staffers from Harris’ first year are still employed by Harris as of March 31, 2024, according to OpenTheBooks.
The Biden campaign filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for their name to be changed to “Harris for president,” according to WMUR 9 ABC. The nearly $96 million raised by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) will be transferred to the new campaign, according to WMUR 9 ABC.
Gil Duran, a former Democratic strategist who worked with Harris during her tenure as attorney general of California, blamed Harris herself for the high turnover in her office.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at the Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote Presidential Town Hall at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on July 13, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)
“One of the things we’ve said in our little text groups among each other is what is the common denominator through all this and it’s her,” Duran told The Washington Post in 2021.
A “Kamala 2024” sign is placed outside the U.S. Naval Observatory, home of Vice President Kamala Harris, on July 21, 2024, in Washington, DC.Photo by Bonnie Cash/Getty Images)
Tina Flournoy, Harris’ chief of staff, was a popular target of complaints made about the office environment, with interviews of 22 former and current staffers saying that Flournoy allegedly shot down ideas hard and made slow decisions, refusing to take responsibility for “delicate issues” and blaming staffers for negative results, according to Politico.
“[Harris] is the most perceptive person on the planet,” a long-time aide told Politico. “She might not have first-hand knowledge, but it’s hard to imagine she doesn’t have a sense of what’s going on.”
Former Harris spokesperson Symone Sanders in 2021 called people “cowards” who anonymously shared their experience in the office. She left the office that year, according to Politico.
Other high-profile staffers left the office in 2021, including former communications chief Ashley Etienne, director of speechwriting Meghan Groob and former domestic policy advisor Rohini Kosoglu, according to The Hill in 2022.
The office of the vice president did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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