Kamala Harris’ Comms. Chief Leaves as Embattled VP Tries to Regain Footing

 
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND - MAY 28: U.S. Vice President Kamla Harris puts on a U.S. Navy jacket given to her by the class of 2021 as she delivers remarks at the U.S. Naval Academy Graduation and Commissioning Ceremony at the Naval Academy on May 28, 2021 in Annapolis, Maryland. The graduating class of 1,084 will be commissioned as ensigns in the Navy or second lieutenants in the Marine Corps. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Vice President Kamala Harris’ communications chief Ashley Etienne is leaving her role in the VP’s office, reported Vanity Fair on Thursday.

The news comes amid controversy surrounding Harris’s poll numbers and efficacy in the Biden administration. Vanity Fair reporter Abigail Tracey, notes, however, that “when Etienne joined the vice president’s office she told me she would stay for the first year.”

Etienne is a veteran of D.C. politics having worked in both Barack Obama’s administration and previously as a senior adviser to  Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and President Joe Biden.

A bombshell USA Today poll published on November 7th found Harris’s approval rating stood at a dismal 28 percent. The vice president has since been plagued by unflattering press coverage and questions about her role in the administration and the future of the Democratic Party as Biden’s approval rating hovers in the low forties.

Harris appeared on Good Morning America Thursday, where George Stephanopoulos asked whether or not Biden was planning to run again in 2024. Harris brushed off the question, which was asked a day after another poll found a mere 24 percent of registered voters want Biden to seek reelection.

Stephanopoulos also asked Harris if she felt “misused or underused” by the Biden administration.

“No, I don’t. I’m very, very excited about the work that we have accomplished,” Harris responded. “But I am also absolutely, absolutely clear-eyed that there is a lot more to do, and we’re gonna get it done.”

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Alex Griffing is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Send tips via email: alexanderg@mediaite.com. Follow him on Twitter: @alexgriffing