Former aides to Vice President Kamala Harris have disclosed the realities of working for the high-profile political figure, sparking doubts about her ability to succeed President Joe Biden.
The Daily Mail compiled a summary of past incidents involving Harris and her former staff, detailing how the Democratic leader dismissed the hurt feelings of staff members she reportedly berated and swore at during tense moments. An independent analysis of payroll records reveals that only four of the 71 staff members who worked for Harris during President Biden’s first term remain on her team. Her harsh behavior has been described as “soul-destroying” and reminiscent of bullying from her time as California attorney general.
The change at the top of the Democratic ticket has fueled concerns that Harris’s negative tendencies will become even more pronounced now that the party is relying solely on her. Former aides told reporter Charlie Spiering that the 92% turnover rate under Harris is not surprising given her behind-the-scenes behavior, which reportedly includes screaming matches with senior staff, berating subordinates for minor mistakes, and leaving interns in tears. Gil Duran, a former aide to Harris who left after five months, echoed this sentiment, stating, “What is the common denominator through all this? It’s her.”
Barbara O’Connor, a professor at California State University, Sacramento, confirmed this by noting that she stopped referring her students to Harris’s Attorney General’s office in the 2010s after several returned traumatized, feeling undervalued. The situation did not improve after Harris’s 2017 election to the U.S. Senate, where her office had the ninth-highest staff turnover rate. Congressional sources reported that then-Senator Harris was known to lash out at both Republican and Democratic staffers during the contentious confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who falsely accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her during their teens.
After staging a walkout during part of the hearings, Harris exploded in anger outside the main Judiciary Committee hearing room. “Anyone who’s staff, get the f*** out of here!” she allegedly yelled, according to witnesses who were present at the time. That included staffers who didn’t work for her and some who worked for Republicans, the outlet reported.
By the time Harris launched her presidential campaign in 2019, her behavior had become so “toxic” that staff members began speaking out about the deteriorating morale. Former State Operations Director Kelly Mehlenbacher departed in November of that year, stating she had “never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly.”
She continued: “It is not acceptable to me that we encouraged people to move from Washington, DC to Baltimore only to lay them off with no notice. Morale has never been lower,’ she added, saying there was no ‘real plan’ for how Harris might win, but that she hoped her departure ‘might result in some serious consideration of […] our internal communications.” One month after Mehlenbacher went public, Harris ended her campaign, citing a lack of continued financial support by donors.
Four months later, Harris was given a lifeline by Biden when he selected her as his running mate, but her workplace behavior did not improve with the change in circumstances. By the time they both arrived in the White House, staffers began speaking out anonymously, criticizing the vice president for fostering a stifling and fear-driven environment where even minor offenses could provoke a harsh response from Harris, said the outlet.
“It’s not a place where people feel supported but a place where people feel treated like s***,” one source said, describing the team as “low morale, porous lines of communication and diminished trust among aides and senior officials.” President Biden’s team saw what was happening and threw the veep under the bus. “It all starts at the top,” said one West Wing aide who witnessed the alleged mistreatment.
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