Former staff members of Vice President Kamala Harris are coming forward with claims of her “toxic behavior” in the workplace. Out of the 71 staffers initially hired during her first year as VP, only four remain.
The Daily Mail reports that 67 of the original 71 staffers either quit or were dismissed. Harris has been known for a challenging work environment dating back to her time as California Attorney General in 2010. Sources claim she frequently berated staff with harsh language and was known as a “soul-destroying” bully.
California State University professor Barbara O’Connor noted that teen students interning for Harris often returned feeling undervalued and upset. The situation reportedly didn’t improve much when Harris served in the Senate from 2017 to 2020, where her office had one of the highest turnover rates.
Witnesses have described instances where Harris would yell at Senate staffers, even those not directly working for her. In one reported incident, she shouted, “Anyone who’s staff, get the f*ck out of here!”
During her 2020 presidential campaign, similar issues were noted. In a resignation letter published by the New York Times in 2019, her State Operations Director, Kelly Mehlenbacher, criticized the campaign’s poor treatment of staff, saying, “Morale has never been lower.”
Although Harris withdrew from the presidential race, she was later chosen as Joe Biden’s running mate, fulfilling his promise to select a Black woman for the VP role.
In June 2021, Politico reported that former staffers described her VP office as having “low morale, porous lines of communication, and diminished trust among aides and senior officials.” Sources indicated that Harris’s office was not a supportive environment, with staff feeling like they were treated poorly.
Further reports in December 2021 from the Washington Post revealed that Harris allegedly avoided preparing for public appearances and blamed staff for her poor performance. An ex-staffer described the situation as having to deal with a “soul-destroying” level of criticism and a lack of confidence from Harris herself.
