The relationship between Kamala Harris‘ team and Joe Biden‘s White House has been increasingly fraught in the final weeks before Election Day, 10 people familiar with the situation tell Axios.
One of the big flash points recently was when Vice President Harris, who this summer replaced Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee, criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for not taking her call about the recent hurricanes, only for Biden to praise DeSantis soon after for being “gracious” and “cooperative.”
(A person familiar with the situation told Axios that Biden hadn’t been briefed on Harris’ comments.)
Biden has been eager to boast about a robust jobs report, helping to end the strike by the longshoremen’s union and other perceived victories recently. Harris has been trying to focus on voters’ pocketbook concerns, including inflation.
One person involved with Harris’ campaign told Axios: “The White House is lacking someone in the room thinking first and foremost about how things would affect the campaign.”
The tensions have played out on the staff level, too.
Harris’ team has been trying to add staff to the vice president’s official office to handle the bigger workload. It’s been frustrated at the White House’s pace in getting people detailed for that, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The White House has been working to help Harris’ team but has been frustrated by some of the rules about who can be detailed and when.
Several Biden aides have joined Harris’ campaign, but some feel like they’ve been labeled as disloyal by Biden’s team for leaving or even considering it. Read the full story from Axios