Harris team suffers from huge staff churn – watchdog
US Vice President Kamala Harris has a staggering staff turnover rate of 91.5%, transparency watchdog OpenTheBooks reported on Monday, citing disclosures from the Senate. The revelation came days after President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign and endorsed Harris as his replacement.
OpenTheBooks, an NGO that monitors government spending, has analyzed the list of titles and names of the staffers at the Office of the Vice President, which it took from the semi-annual report of the Secretary of the Senate.
“As of March 31, 2024, only four of the initial 47 staffers from the first year are still employed – consistently and without interruption – by the vice president,” the group said.
The turnover rate for Biden’s staffers is 77%, as only 127 of his initial 560 White House employees have remained in their position since 2021, OpenTheBooks said.
Harris’ problems retaining staff have been reported in the past, with The Hill describing her team as a “revolving door.” The political news website said in the summer of 2022 that more than 13 “high-profile aides” had left the vice president in less than a year.
Axios has cited “burnout, better opportunities and concern about being permanently branded a ‘Harris person’” as some of the reasons behind the high turnover rate at the vice president’s office.
Biden announced that he was leaving the race on Sunday, after weeks of growing concerns among Democrats and their supporters over his declining health and perceived ability to defeat former President Donald Trump in November.
Although Biden and multiple prominent Democrats have backed Harris as the party’s candidate for the presidency, the nominee will be officially decided at its national convention next month.
During her first campaign rally on Tuesday, Harris accused Trump of wanting to “take our country backward,” and spreading “chaos, fear and hate.”
Trump, in turn, has accused Harris of failing to tackle the illegal immigration crisis at the US border with Mexico, suggesting that “she could be far less competent” than Biden, “which is hard to believe.”
