Three new senior advisers have joined Vice President Kamala Harris's team; among them are prominent strategists who led Democratic former President Barack Obama's two successful U.S. presidential campaigns.
According to Reuters, David Plouffe, a top adviser in Obama's 2012 reelection campaign and manager of his presidential campaign in 2008, joined Harris's presidential campaign.
Stephanie Cutter, a seasoned Democratic communications professional who formerly worked as Obama's White House communications director and deputy campaign manager, is also joining the Harris campaign. Cutter is going to become a senior strategist messaging adviser for the Harris campaign.
Mitch Stewart, who worked on both of Obama's campaigns and will serve as a senior adviser on battleground states, is one of the other Obama alumni joining the campaign. Leading Obama's public opinion research team, David Binder will take on a more leadership role in the Harris campaign's opinion research unit.
The campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon, a fellow Obama campaign veteran, will oversee all of the new personnel, reported The Washington Post. From the White House, she oversaw Biden's 2020 campaign and established his 2024 operation before relocating to Wilmington, Delaware, this year. As soon as Biden declared he would not run for reelection, Harris took over the campaign, which included over 130 offices and over 1,300 staff members. She requested that O'Malley Dillon stay in command.
The Harris campaign has added Terrance Woodbury of HIT Strategies, an expert in Black voter opinion research, to the team in addition to expanding Binder's role. The other pollsters who were employed by Biden will stay in their positions. Director of campaign communications Michael Tyler will remain in that role, while Rob Flaherty, deputy campaign manager, will continue to be in charge of social media, digital advertising, and grassroots fundraising.
In September 2022, Biden started organising his reelection campaign, enlisting the help of several influential White House advisors who have since stepped down from their positions. Senior White House aide Anita Dunn recently declared she was leaving to provide advice to a super PAC that is endorsing Harris. Leading Biden advisors Steve Ricchetti, Mike Donilon, and Bruce Reed, as well as Biden and his wife Jill's top advisors Annie Tomasini and Anthony Bernal, will all play a reduced role.
Harris on Friday secured the delegate votes needed to clinch the Democratic nomination.
