Exodus from Kamala Harris' Office Hits New Level: Chief of Staff Is Set to Depart
The chief of staff for Kamala Harris is leaving her post as the revolving door of the embattled vice president’s office continues to spin.
Lorraine Voles, a Democratic communications expert, will replace Tina Flournoy, according to The Washington Post.
Flournoy is leaving for personal reasons, the Post said it was told by a White House official it did not identify.
Voles was among those brought in last summer as part of the administration’s damage control efforts to help the floundering Harris, according to Politico.
A Harris statement about the change painted everything as rosy.
“Tina has been a valued advisor and confidant to me and tremendous leader for the office,” the vice president said, according to the Post.
“From day 1, she led our team during a historic first year as we made progress rebuilding our economy here at home and our alliances around the world,” she said. “Tina is the consummate public servant and I will continue to rely on her advice, counsel and friendship.”
Voles was communications director for Vice President Al Gore and an adviser to Hillary Clinton in 2008.
Michael Fuchs, Harris’s deputy chief of staff, is also leaving soon, according to The Washington Times.
Harris has been losing staffers since last summer, when, following her trip to Central America, director of advance Karly Satkowiak and deputy director of advance Gabrielle DeFranceschi left, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail. Rajan Kaur, who was the director of digital strategies, left in July.
The trickle grew into a river amid a spate of reports in the fall of tensions in the vice president’s office, snarly relations with the office of President Joe Biden and a steep decline in support for Harris among the public.
Former communications director Ashley Etienne resigned in November.
Symone Sanders, the chief spokeswoman for Harris, left next.
In January, Vincent Evans, deputy director of public engagement and intergovernmental affairs for nearly a year, left for a staff role with the Congressional Black Caucus.
Kate Childs Graham, Harris’ chief speechwriter, left Harris’ office in February, according to Fox News.
National security adviser Nancy McEldowney left last month.
Harris has been plagued by consistently low approval ratings, with the Real Clear Politics average of polls over the past three months showing only 39 percent view her favorably while 51 percent view her unfavorably.
In an Op-Ed for The Hill, Merrill Matthews, a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation in Dallas, said even though the vice president has a minimal official role, Harris is failing to accomplish it.
“Social media is having a field day compiling her word-salad speeches and making them available for everyone to snicker at. And that tendency will likely only get worse with the ‘passage of time,’ because ‘there is great significance to the passage of time,’ as Harris is fond of saying,” he wrote.
KAMALA HARRIS: “The significance of the passage of time, right? The significance of the passage of time. So when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time…there is such great significance to the passage of time.” pic.twitter.com/jUsnyNiSpB
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 21, 2022
Kamala Harris on space is truly remarkable. Enjoy: pic.twitter.com/Z5NkME491A
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 20, 2022
REPORTER: “How long should Americans expect — how long should we be bracing for — this historic inflation and some unprecedented gas prices?”
KAMALA HARRIS: …………… pic.twitter.com/HdpRgcjIJn
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 11, 2022
Harris, Matthews said, “hasn’t fulfilled a VP’s first task of not embarrassing the president.”
“It is often said that a presidential candidate’s first major decision is choosing a vice presidential running mate. Biden’s first big decision was Kamala Harris, and it’s been pretty much downhill for them — and the country — ever since,” he wrote.
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