The office of US Vice President Kamala Harris sees a lot of personnel changes over the past several months. This time, another high-profile aide from Harris’s office is leaving, as her chief of staff will be stepping down.
A White House official told CNN last week that Harris’s chief of staff, Tina Flournoy, will be stepping down from her post this spring. Flournoy will be replaced by veteran Democratic strategist Lorraine Voles, who previously served as one of Harris’s advisers when she joined in the summer last year. Voles would be focusing on “organizational development, strategic communications, and long-term planning,” according to the official.
“It had been my intention to speak to all of you individually to let you know that I will soon be leaving the Vice President’s Office and my role as Chief of Staff,” said Flournoy in an email obtained by CNN, noting that the news of her departure may break before she could disclose the news herself.
“I will, however, be talking to you in the coming days. I will say then – in much more poetic language, no doubt – that it has been an honor to work for the Vice President and a great joy to know Kamala Harris and see firsthand the great passion she brings to her job,” said Flournoy.
Flournoy’s departure makes her the latest high-profile Harris aide to leave the administration. Prior to Flournoy, her deputy Michael Fuchs announced earlier this month that he would be stepping down, as well as Harris’s national security adviser Nancy McEldowney. McEldowney will be replaced by her deputy Phil Gordon.
In other related news, a new book by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns revealed that Harris was not who Dr. Jill Biden wanted her husband to pick as his running mate during his 2020 campaign. Dr. Biden, who would ultimately become the first lady, initially opposed her husband’s decision of choosing Harris following the heated Democratic primary debate.
Dr. Biden reportedly expressed frustration that of all the people in the country, her husband would choose the one who attacked him during the debate. During the primary debate, Harris attacked Joe Biden over his working with segregationists in Congress. Biden said at the time that there was “some civility” and that they “got things done.”