Senior White House officials have become increasingly frustrated with Vice President Kamala Harris and are wary of her chances against former President Donald Trump or any other GOP candidate, should she be the Democratic candidate in 2024.
While officials are confident President Joe Biden will run for reelection, they also acknowledge that he will be 81-years-old in 2024 and Harris is considered to be Biden's heir apparent.
A series of shortcomings by the vice president surrounding the crisis at the southern border led to concerns about Harris' potential candidacy, which were apparent during her run for president in 2020.
After being tapped by Biden as the border czar, Harris waited more than 90 days to visit the U.S.-Mexico border and, prior to her trip, falsely claimed she had visited. Once she finally did make a trip to the border on her way to California, she only briefly left the El Paso, Texas airport to see a Border Patrol station that was hundreds of miles from the actual crisis.
One Democratic operative told Axios that most Democratic officials are not saying, "'Oh, no, our heir apparent is f***ing up, what are we gonna do?’ It's more that people think, 'Oh, she’s f***ing up, maybe she shouldn't be the heir apparent.'"
Some Democrats close to the White House are becoming more concerned about Harris' political tone-deafness and how she is dealing with prominent issues. They have not shown confidence in her ability to continue riding Biden coalition, sources tell Axios.
Several administration officials called Harris' office a "shitshow" and others said it was poorly managed.
Harris' office, which already lost two advance aides and a digital director, was discovered this week in a POLITICO report to have an unhealthy and abusive work environment.
“People are thrown under the bus from the very top, there are short fuses and it’s an abusive environment,” one anonymous source told POLITICO. “It’s not a healthy environment and people often feel mistreated. It’s not a place where people feel supported but a place where people feel treated like sh–t.”
However, other officials praised Harris and dismissed the idea that there was any truth to the rumors of a chaotic workplace.
"People are not fighting every day," said Harris' senior adviser, Symone Sanders. "There's not consternation among aides. That is not true. ... I hear that there are critics. Those who talk often do not know and those who know usually are not the ones talking."