More Bad News Hits Kamala Harris’ Office

Two staffers announced this week that they are leaving Vice President Kamala Harris’ office, the latest in a series of staffers who have decided to move on.

“Today is my last day at the White House, and it truly has been an honor. I will be forever grateful to Vice President Harris, the incredible Team @VP, and I’m so proud of our work this past year supporting this historic Administration,” Peter Velz, Harris’ director of press operations, tweeted. “The White House is an amazing place to work — you’re surrounded by the most selfless, smart, hard-working people everyday doing their best to serve the American people. And it has has [sic] been an absolute joy.”

Vincent Evans, Harris’ deputy director of public engagement and intergovernmental affairs, also made his announcement on Twitter, writing: “I am deeply honored to be named the Executive Director of the Congressional Black Caucus.”

“As we write the next chapter of the CBC story, I am excited for the opportunity to lend my experience and passion for supporting the collective vision of this storied Caucus,” he wrote. “Onward.”

CNN reported:

The departures are the latest in a series of exits by staffers in the vice president’s office, including chief spokesperson and senior adviser Symone Sanders and communications director Ashley Etienne. News of each departure followed a myriad of reports, including by CNN, of staff infighting and dysfunction. …

In November, CNN reported that several people on the vice president’s staff had started to reach out to contacts to say they’re looking to leave, according to sources who’ve gotten calls, while many in the vice president’s orbit have expressed frustration that Harris has not being adequately prepared or positioned by the White House and instead is being sidelined.

When asked by CBS News host Margaret Brennan late last month what her biggest failure was during her first year in office, Harris responded, “To not get out of D.C. more.”

Harris’ remarks come as she has seen her approval ratings plummet to the worst numbers ever recorded for a modern vice president in a USA Today/Suffolk poll at 28%.

“I mean, and I actually mean that sincerely for a number of reasons,” she continued. “You know, I — we, the president and I came in, you know, COVID had already started. It was — the pandemic had started. And when we came in, we really couldn’t travel. You know, a large part of the relationship that he and I have built has been being in this, you know, together in the same office for hours on end, doing Zooms or whatever because we couldn’t get out of D.C. and on issues that are about fighting for anything from voting rights to child care to one of the issues that I care deeply about maternal health. Being with the people who are directly impacted by this work, listening to them so that they, not some pundit, tells us what their priorities are, I think is critically important.”