Kamala Harris' office reportedly has low morale and high dysfunction, concerning allies of the Oakland-born vice president fewer than six months into her term.
Politico spoke to "22 current and former vice presidential aides, administration officials and associates of Harris" and President Joe Biden in a piece published Wednesday, one of whom told the outlet "it's an abusive environment" and "people often feel mistreated."
Tina Flournoy, the vice president’s chief of staff, has "created an insular environment where ideas are ignored or met with harsh dismissals and decisions are dragged out," Politico’s sources said.
Harris’ chief spokesperson, Symone Sanders, called the story’s anonymous sources "cowards to do it this way." Flournoy, like Harris and Sanders, is Black, and sources defending Harris told the outlet that Black women in positions of power can be subject to standards that men, let alone white ones, aren’t held to.
"We are not making rainbows and bunnies all day," Sanders told Politico. "What I hear is that people have hard jobs and I’m like 'welcome to the club.' We have created a culture where people, if there is anything anyone would like to raise, there are avenues for them to do so. Whoever has something they would like to raise, they should raise it directly."
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A former Senate aide who spoke to Politico said morale was "rough," comparing it to that of staffers in Harris’ Senate office and those who worked on her presidential campaign.
Four days before Harris formally withdrew her candidacy for the Democratic nomination on Dec. 3, 2019, The New York Times reported her staff was "riven between competing factions eager to belittle one another."
Two of Harris’ top staffers, Karly Satkowiak and Gabrielle DeFranceschi, recently left the vice president’s office, and Politico’s sources disputed Satkowiak, DeFranceschi and Harris’ characterization of the departures as "long-planned." Rajan Kaur, a member of Harris’ digital team, also left after not relocating from Brooklyn to Washington.
Harris’ allies, according to Politico, are most concerned that frustrated employees leaving and the office’s low morale could damage her relationship with President Biden.
Anita Dunn, one of Harris’ senior advisers, told the outlet she hadn’t heard complaints within the vice president’s office "anywhere near" what Politico described.
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