When asked about the staff turnover and potential for a reset by POLITICO, Harris' office declined to comment. Advisers have spent weeks researching possible replacements for important posts and feeling out others who passed on roles in the office to see if they would be more willing to join in a second round.
Four staffers in the vice president's office have left recently. They include the high-profile exit by one of Harris' closest aides, as well as the communications director. The departures were planned and not evidence of the turmoil. They are part of a wave that could grow larger as staff in the vice president's office review other opportunities. People familiar with the conversations say that more aides in Harris' office are interested in leaving.
Donna Brazile, a veteran Democratic strategist close to the White House and vice president's office, stressed that turnover at this level of government isn't surprising. She said that the new vacancies give Harris a chance to think.
Brazile said in an interview that every opportunity that you get in politics is a good one. Harris had to pick up people along the way because of the new responsibilities, but in every stage of her life, there were people she could bring with her. I think that this is an opportunity like she has done before to find people who are able to take their seats at the table. There's something new on the menu.
The shakeup among Harris' staff has led to speculation about how she and her top aides have managed the office and her own capacity as a boss. Harris allies are defending her leadership skills, while describing the withdrawals as part of the usual stress that comes from working in a pressure-cooker environment. If she is not more involved in hiring at her office, a frustrating first year could become a more painful second one.
She needs loyalists who also maintain support and trust within Biden's inner circle if she's not allowed to pick her own people.
The Biden administration brought in two people to assess the vice president's operation and institute changes. A person close to Harris described Voles as a calming influence who has streamlined bottlenecks.
The vice president's team declined to comment on what has changed since Voles and Frankel joined the office, but they acknowledged they were handling long-term planning and organizational development.
The White House can plot out how to better deploy a historic figure in the vice president role if they can see how the office is being changed.
There is renewed focus on pushing for more diversity in major jobs and across the Biden administration after the departures of both of the Black people.
Harris' allies think that she can embrace a more active role in shaping her coverage. There is a growing sense of frustration over what is seen as over-torqued critiques that feed a doomsday assessment of her standing and political future.
There are improvements that need to be made in that office. The people in her office and the people in the White House are aware of the improvements that have been made.
Harris is now given the chance to take lessons learned from the first year and structure the office in a way that meets the needs and goals of what she is trying to accomplish.
Karen Finney, a Democratic strategist who has worked on campaigns for Hillary Clinton and Stacey Abrams, said that despite the headlines, Harris had done laudable work on voting rights, meeting with people not traditionally heard from around D.C., and by helping put a human face on the president.
Vice President Harris is doing his job. To help push and get passed the president's agenda, to represent the United States around the world and help repair our global alliances, and to help get the aid package passed and travel the country urging Americans to get vaccine.
Harris had trouble finding her way in offices where she had experience, even those where she had just been elected. She rose from attorney general of California to U.S. senator in a decade.
The learning curve has led to early mistakes and rough patches in every job she has held. She has always recovered, in part because she excelled in the work. One former Harris aide said that the recovery was a result of people focusing on what she was doing and not on what people were saying.
Harris has a lot of personal relationships. There have been staff departures throughout her career. They began to show up in the news coverage of her after her tailspin in the 2020 presidential campaign. If she doesn't create some stability within the top ranks of her office with the necessary help of Biden's team, that type of coverage will come to define her.
The White House needs to take charge of the vice president's office and provide stewardship to stop the staff turnover, according to a former Harris aide. The stakes for President Biden and the nation are high, and so this narrative of division and incompetence must be put to rest.
The most visible retooling is happening at Harris. The level of scrutiny on the vice president was not prepared for by the White House or Harris office.
A Democratic strategist aligned with the White House said that the press contingency of the vice president is more robust than previous ones. There is a different level of scrutiny and coverage. The original discussion about how the team can build the office in a way that helps meet the demands of the press corps in this press environment is still going on.
Harris, a relative newcomer to Washington, has had to adapt to the role of vice president. She has been reluctant to forge relationships with members of the news media, and there has been little in the way of proactive pitching of stories on her, magnifying the impact of process pieces from mainstream press outlets and fierce criticism from right-wing outlets.
If she goes to the bathroom, everyone says she used toilet paper, and everyone else says she bought a new pot. Brazile said. How many people left the West Wing? How many people have said they are only going to do it for six months? There's a lot of appetite to carry every conversation that Kamala is having into the press, but it's never one that says, actually, what's going on.
