Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is reportedly riddled with “internal worries about cohesiveness,” as those loyal to the vice president and former Obama staffers come together to form an “at times unwieldy” team working on what not long ago had been President Biden’s re-election campaign.
The main architect of Biden’s campaign messaging, Mike Donilon, has gone back to the White House, but Harris has kept most of Biden’s other campaign staffers, Axios reported, citing six people involved in the campaign. The vice president also has tapped her own staffers and prominent aides from former President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, resulting in a “Frankenstein” team with competing power centers.
It contrasts with Biden’s insular campaign team that had a few longtime aides calling the shots. The Harris team’s attempt to avoid making Biden staffers feel cast aside has resulted in confusion about who is in charge, according to the report. One person involved told Axios 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 entanglement of these different entities has led to many people feeling a real lack of role clarity,” another person involved in the campaign told Axios, citing more confusion “two or three rungs down.”
Biden’s campaign had parted ways with prominent election lawyer Marc Elias over his strategy last year. Harris has brought Elias, who is close to former Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder, back to work on her campaign to help vet vice presidential running mates and now focus on Democrats’ recount strategy.
The short timetable of just 68 days until Election Day seems to have deterred major tension, the report says.
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“It’s just a mad dash,” one person involved told Axios. “Things are colliding occasionally, but it’s not malicious.”
Some of the Biden campaign aides told Axios they thought the former Obama staffers had been second-guessing their moves for months, as some were involved in pushing Biden to exit the race.
Though some on Biden’s team believe Harris is more electable than the president after his June debate performance against former President Trump, and welcome the “burst of enthusiasm,” some are disappointed they have to defend Harris for her past progressive stances on “Medicare-for-all” and banning fracking. Her positions on those issues, along with those of other Democrats, in part contributed to Biden’s 2020 nomination win.
Instead of changing the makeup of Biden’s campaign team, Axios noted, the vice president instead shifted her messaging from Biden’s focus on “democracy” to Harris’ new push for “freedom” and “future.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.
