A power struggle continues to boil over from within the Harris campaign, as staffers are confused about who is in charge of the operation, six people involved in the campaign told Axios’s Alex Thompson on Thursday.
The leaks underscore Vice President Kamala Harris’s history of an unprofessional work environment, rife with backstabbing and badmouthing during her tenure as a senator and vice president.
- “The entanglement of these different entities has led to many people feeling a real lack of role clarity,” one person involved in the campaign told Axios.
- Another person involved with the campaign said there isn’t “as much tension at the very, very top, where the question is more: ‘Who is the first among equals with the vice president?'”
- The confusion about who’s in charge is happening more often “two or three rungs down,” this source said.
Politico Playbook reported on Tuesday that “tensions” were hot over who the decision maker was for Harris’s first media interview. About seven people were vying for influence, according to the leak.
Last week, a damning Politico report described the Harris campaign as rife with “friction,” “internal tensions,” “anxiety,” “raw emotions,” “bad-mouthing,” and “grumbling” that mirrored the dysfunction that plagued Harris’s Senate and vice presidential offices.
Politico’s Christopher Cadelago reported:
Anxiety inside the campaign could still dissipate over the three-month sprint to November, but aides also fear they could grow in scope and significance and lead to trouble down the chain of command. Harris built a chaotic operation in her 2020 presidential primary campaign that she allowed to fester, causing bottlenecks and radiating dysfunction across her organization. In the first two years of her vice presidency, she also saw several staff departures and internal fissures that reinforced the idea she couldn’t properly assemble and lead a harmonious team. But Harris and her staff have worked hard to overcome all the old dramas and the curtailed 2024 campaign is the latest test of whether she could keep it up.
A handful of people in Harris’ circle told POLITICO they worry that the unfolding tension among campaign staffers will splash back on the vice president, and argue that it’s unfortunate and unfair given the strides she’s made in recent years to build a cohesive and loyal unit.
But some Harris loyalists have picked up on former Biden aides grumbling under their breath about now having to work for her. And there’s considerable ire directed at top digital strategist Rob Flaherty, whose title includes deputy campaign manager.