Can Kamala Harris turn the ship?

Kamala Harris Haven’t had the best few weeks. In the midst of her approval rating dropping to 28%, a flurry of bad press attached to the Joe Biden next drama, and leaving her office, the vice president seems to need a reset — both optically and strategically. That may be part of why, on Monday, Harris brought together nearly 20 members of Black Women’s Leaders and Allies, a coalition of civil rights-focused organizations, and look for a kind of community update, Politico report.

In addition to examining issues at home and abroad and asking women what policy they’d like to see her do more of, Harris wants to hear “creative ways” to tie her work to those affected by it, according to Politico. “She is asking for clarity on how best to approach American rankings and daily profiles,” said D4 In Action’s. Shavon Arline-Bradley. “She said ‘I want that message to resonate in the Beltway and beyond, outside of Washington, D.C. How do I get that message out?’

Harris also asked for an outside perspective. Per Politico:

Harris urged those present to give it to her candidly, with attendees saying: What are people saying? she asked. And when they suggested the need for more public updates on what she was doing, Harris appeared receptive, including expressing openness to holding town halls on various topics. that she is working closely with — from voting rights to other issues facing Blacks in the country.

The women in the room seemed to see the town hall — and Harris’s receptivity — as heralding a new phase in the vice president’s approach. As one attendee told Politico, the administration understands the need to “start making some midway tweaks in terms of messaging, as well as messaging methods.” At one point, according to Arline-Bradley, the group discussed Harris using them as “ambassadors” to communicate her policy work to Black voters — the nation’s most loyal constituency. Democrats – and other lay people.

Reports of the meeting come amid a flurry of headlines surrounding Harris’s role in the Biden administration, including what is alleged to be dysfunction in her office and whether she can be an effective standard-bearer for Democrats. Although the White House has denied these stories are a made-for-TV series, coverage has coincided with sales in the vice president’s office — including the departure of the communications director Ashley Etienne and senior advisor and key spokesperson Symone Sanders—That helped fan the flames. Etienne gone, first report by my colleague Abigail Tracy Last month, it was predicted— “she decided to leave at this point when she took the job,” notes Tracy — but the timing however made it easy. store tie it on Discord rumors. Sanders’ exit, on the other hand, Ask more questions, even if she emphasize decided “totally have nothing to do with my unhappiness.”

The scope of Harris’s intervention has branched out into the left field, which includes a raft of the stories above Whether or does she use wireless headphones – an issue that doesn’t necessarily come with her history-making role as vice president. It seems obvious, based on the Politico report, that Harris himself recognized the need for a reset. Whether she can make that happen is another matter; some have suggest that Harris was a common denominator in the stories of employee dysfunction that arose around her. But a senior exit could also be an opportunity to breathe new life into Harris’s strategy, which will have ramifications across the team and beyond. Her failure was not an option, says Arline-Bradley.

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