Kamala Harris’ deputy chief of staff Michael Fuchs has quit and is slated to leave the Biden administration in May, becoming the eleventh staffer to jump ship over the past year.
Fuchs’ resignation was announced in an internal memo obtained by Reuters on Monday.
“It’s been the honor of a lifetime to serve in this administration, working for the Vice President and President on behalf of the American people,” Fuchs wrote in an email to his colleagues. “Fifteen months later, it’s almost difficult to recall the magnitude of the challenges we faced when we came in, from an unprecedented pandemic to historically difficult economic circumstances. And it is thanks to the work of this administration – and all of you – that our country has had such success in tackling these challenges and turning things around.”
To “ensure a smooth transition,” Fuchs will remain in his current role until early May, according to the memo.
Fuchs’s resignation comes after a slew of Harris’ staffers quit working in the reportedly toxic work culture.
Other staffers that have quit over the past eleven months include Harris’s former deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh, former chief spokesperson Symone Sanders, former deputy director of public engagement and intergovernmental affairs Vincent Evans, former director of Harris’ press operations Peter Velz, former vice presidential national security adviser Amb. Nancy McEldowney, and former director of speechwriting Kate Childs Graham.
Harris is hiring a new head speechwriter following the departure, Megan Groob, following the departure of her previous speechwriter, Kate Childs Graham, in February. Groob wrote previously worked as a speechwriter for Bill Gates as editorial director for Gates Ventures and was a senior speechwriter in the Obama administration.
Harris has also hired a new press secretary, Kristen Allen, in March after the position was vacant for months following the resignation of Sabrina Singh,
The announcement of Allen’s hiring comes amid a racial dispute between Harris and Joe Biden’s office.
According to leaked excerpts of ‘This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future,” a book authored by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns, Harris’s staffers feel repeatedly disrespected by Biden’s “all-white inner circle.”
