Posted on 12/03/21
| News Source: The Hill
Kamala Harris's office is undergoing a reset after a difficult first year, which saw a rocky start for the vice president.
The reset, which includes the departure of Symone Sanders — the most recognizable official in the office — is the result of Harris’s public stumbles, a streak of bad press and staff squabbling, particularly in the communications office, according to sources familiar with the vice president’s office.
The turmoil has raised worries among Democrats about her prospects as a presidential candidate.
“No one seems happy,” said one source close to the vice president’s office.
News of Sanders’s departure was followed by reports that two more press aides would depart in the coming weeks: Peter Velz, the vice president's director of press operations, and Vince Evans, the deputy director of the Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs for Harris, are planning to leave those positions soon, a source confirmed.
Those planned exits became public a few weeks after Harris’s office confirmed her communications director, Ashley Etienne, would leave the position at the end of the year. Sources suggested the close of the year provided a natural time for some officials to transition out, but acknowledged a reset could be helpful.
“They had to turn over the office,” said one Democratic operative familiar with the dynamics in the vice president’s office. “Too much dissatisfaction.”