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Turmoil At Team Harris; Campaign ‘Wasted Her Talent’

   DailyWire.com
Democratic presidential hopeful California Senator Kamala Harris gives a thumbs down as she speaks during the third Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season hosted by ABC News in partnership with Univision at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas on September 12, 2019.
ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images

As Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) struggles to maintain relevance in the ever-narrowing presidential primary field, campaign aides have been complaining about the lack of leadership and “discipline” among members of her senior campaign staff, according to Politico

After interviewing “more than a dozen current and former staffers as well as others close to the campaign, including donors,” the news agency has discovered that “rank and file aides are fed up with the weak leadership and uncertainty around integral communication, planning and executing of a clear vision.” 

One aide went so far as to suggest that Harris may have been unaware of the “severity” of the campaign’s financial issues, because nobody “wanted to tell her.” The news agency had previously reported that the Harris campaign spent $2.8 million more than they raised in the third quarter of 2019. 

Many of the complaints focus on the dynamic between two senior staffers: Juan Rodriguez, the campaign manager, and Maya Harris, the campaign chairwoman and younger sister to Kamala Harris. 

One senior campaign staffer told Politico that Rodriguez has had “all the responsibility with none of the authority,” and has been forced to manage the “race with at least one, if not two, hands tied behind his back.” Others blame Rodriguez for the campaign’s failures, with one aide claiming Rodriguez “chose to defer to Maya” at times when the opportunity for leadership presented itself, according to the news agency.  

Another campaign aide told the news agency that the way the campaign was structured and run “wasted her talent more than she blew it.”

On Friday, a Reuters/Ipsos survey showed that Harris is now polling at 3% nationally, tied with Michael Bloomberg, who is currently not running. And although Harris staffers may want to blame the first-term senator’s declining relevance on the campaign’s leadership, Harris has shown time and time again that she is her own worst advocate. 

Shortly after she announced her candidacy, Harris told CNN host Jake Tapper that she would be in favor of eliminating the private insurance industry. At the June democratic debate, Harris raised her hand when the candidates were asked if they were in favor of abolishing private health insurance, only to backtrack the following day, according to Roll Call

In one of her most tone-deaf moments, Harris laughed on “The Breakfast Club” podcast about the fact that she used to smoke marijauna in college. At the August debate, The Daily Wire reported that Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) said she was “deeply concerned” about the fact that Harris “put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations,” yet was willing to laugh about her own relationship with the drug. 

The Daily Wire also previously reported that, at the October debate, Harris called the idea of jailing drug company executives “a matter of justice.”

LACEY: Senator Harris, you want to hold the drug manufacturers that fueled the crisis accountable. Are you in favor of sending those drug company executives to jail?

HARRIS: I am. And I will tell you, as a former prosecutor, I do think of it as being a matter of justice and accountability because they are nothing more than some high-level dope dealers …

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