Tensions are rising between President Joe Biden’s administration and Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign, with Biden’s senior staffers being labeled as too “in their feelings” to fully support Harris after he was pushed out of the race, inside sources revealed to Axios.
Biden and Harris have struggled to remain on the same page since she announced that she would be taking his place at the top of the Democrat ticket in July, with Biden holding an impromptu press conference just as Harris was about to hold an event in Michigan on Friday, “ensuring” that she would get less live coverage.
Prior to that, Harris slammed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for declining her call about Hurricane Milton — which he denied receiving — just before Biden undercutted her by praising DeSantis for being “gracious” and “cooperative,” Axios reported.
An inside source told the outlet that Biden had not been briefed on Harris’s jabs at the Republican governor when he made those comments.
On top of those public fumbles between the current administration and the campaign, a close Harris ally told the publication that senior Biden aides are not fully on board with supporting the new presidential ticket after feeling slighted.
“They’re too much in their feelings,” the source said of the president’s staffers.
Another person from Harris’s campaign said, “The White House is lacking someone in the room thinking first and foremost about how things would affect the campaign.”
According to people familiar with the inner workings of the White House and the campaign, several of Biden’s people have switched over to Harris’s team, but some feel like they’ve been labeled as disloyal for doing so or even considering it.
Even within Harris’s team, there are reportedly tensions between people who were loyal to her from the beginning and new arrivals from Biden’s camp.
The White House has denied that there is a strain among senior staffers.
“Everyone from the president on down knows how important the election is, and we always anticipated a number of staff would want to transition from the administration to the campaign for the final stretch,” a White House official told Axios.
A White House spokesperson also claimed that Harris’s campaign has been invited to team meetings with the Biden administration to run things smoothly.
Even so, Biden has been trying to end out his presidency on a good note by touting purported successes with unemployment numbers and the end of the longshoremen’s union strike, while Harris introduces new economic plans that she has not pushed in her current role as Biden’s right hand:
“President Biden endorsed Vice President Harris immediately after leaving the race, rejecting other approaches that would divide the party, and has attested to her leadership abilities and continually made clear his support for her,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said.
“While ensuring that all critical White House functions are fully staffed, we have made significant changes to guarantee the vice president’s team has all of the support and resources that they need,” he added.
Both Harris’s vice-presidential office and her campaign declined to respond to Axios’s reporting, the outlet noted.