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Kamala follows Obama track, as his operatives pave her way

August 7, 2024 | | Print Article

Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is reportedly teeming with former acolytes of Barack Obama.

Take David Plouffe, who advised former President Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 election campaigns. Harris has tapped him as her senior campaign adviser, according to The Washington Post.

Then there’s Stephanie Cutter. After having served as Obama’s campaign manager in 2012, she’s now been hired as Harris’ senior adviser for strategy messaging.

Next is Mitch Stewart. Formerly a grassroots strategist for Obama, he’s now serving as Harris’ senior adviser for battleground states.

Also jumping teams is David Binder, a radical leftist who previously worked with Obama and Harris, but has since been tapped to lead the vice president’s opinion research operation.

Even Jennifer Palmieri, who served as communications director in the Obama White House and also Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, has joined Harris’ operation, namely as senior adviser to second gentleman Doug Emhoff.

Meanwhile, former Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder had been tapped to vet Harris’ potential running mates. But he clearly failed at the job, as evidenced by Harris’ decision to pick a rabid socialist as her running mate.

Then there’s Jennifer O’Malley Dillion, who served as Obama’s 2012 deputy campaign manager and President Joe Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign chair. She has been chosen to be Harris’ campaign manager.

In picking all these Obama acolytes, Harris has also chosen to snub a number of Biden acolytes.

“Harris hired a battery of new senior advisers to her campaign this week, moving swiftly to replace lifetime loyalists of President Biden with Democratic campaign veterans,” the Post notes.

“This team is a reflection of the vice president,” O’Malley said in a statement last Friday. “It brings in people who have worked for her a long time, people who have been with her for the last few years of the administration.”

“This team represents the vice president and how she looks at building consensus and also driving toward one united front to defeat Trump,” she added.

That said, Harris’ campaign won’t be comprised of just Obama-era faces. Some Harris-era faces are coming along too.

“Sheila Nix, her [current] campaign chief of staff, will remain in her role, as will Sergio Gonzales, her campaign strategist, and Jalisa Washington-Price and Megan Jones, her political advisers,” the Post notes.

“Brian Fallon, a veteran of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign who has been working as Harris’s communications director, will be a senior communications adviser, traveling with the candidate. Shelby Cole, Harris’s 2020 digital strategist now at the Democratic National Committee, will also play an increased role,” according to the Post.

“With 95 days to go, Vice President Harris is building on its powerhouse team that has already delivered historic grassroots support and record-breaking fundraising,” Nix said in a statement of her own.

“These seasoned and respected leaders are a part of Vice President Harris’ steadfast commitment to grow a team that will ensure we do everything possible to win this November,” she added.

Quentin Fulks, the principal deputy campaign manager for Harris, will meanwhile be taking over the campaign’s advertising program.

The Harris campaign will also be bringing on Terrance Woodbury of HIT Strategies, a polling company that only cares about black people’s opinions.

“Other pollsters who were working for Biden will continue in their roles,” according to the Post.

Next is former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia L. Fudge. She’s been hired as co-chair but will soon expand her role to also include outreach and strategy.

“Former congressman Cedric L. Richmond will continue to be a co-chair and Harris adviser,” according to the Post. “Brian Nelson, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the Treasury Department, is coming over to advise Harris on policy.”

“Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden’s campaign manager, will remain in her role for Harris, with an expanded portfolio focused on Arizona and Nevada, where Democrats now say they have renewed hope of defeating Trump,” the Post noted.

Vivek Saxena
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