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Aside from an appearance at the Democrat National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris’ younger sister has been noticeably absent from her presidential campaign, leading some to wonder why.

According to the Daily Mail, it may be because of her disastrous performance as Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign chairperson.

“That campaign infamously face-planted in December 2019, two months before voters could even deliver their verdict in the first Iowa caucuses, and the blame was placed squarely on Maya’s shoulders,” the Daily Mail noted.

“Democrat sources have confirmed to the Mail that they still hold Maya responsible, accusing her of pushing her big sister’s political positions even further left than those of proudly socialist senator Bernie Sanders,” the reporting continued.

At the time, Politico ran a very telling piece about her describing her pivotal role in the campaign.

“A regular presence on the trail, Maya has been involved in virtually every facet of the race, from soliciting donors and recruiting the most diverse staff of any Democratic hopeful, to helping draft policy and talking up early-state politicos,” the outlet reported.

“Maya is often the first point of contact for her sister in early states, where officials and operatives said she frequently touches base to gauge the lay of the land,” it continued.

The New York Times meanwhile published a piece warning how Maya’s role in the campaign was at times producing problems.

“In the spring, Maya Harris and the consulting team were at war over whether the senator should embrace or downplay her record as a prosecutor, which some on the left have criticized, a dilemma the campaign has never resolved,” the Times reported in November 2019.

“One campaign strategist said it was impossible to tell if Maya Harris was speaking for herself, as an adviser, or as her sister’s representative. She has exercised broad influence over even logistical details of the campaign, like the scheduling of fund-raising events, and over hiring. The uncertainty over who has final signoff has made it more difficult for the campaign to quickly execute decisions and Maya Harris’s dual roles as relative and adviser prompted the candidate’s staff to be more restrained about the advice they offer,” the report continued.

The report was published a few weeks after Harris’ then-presidential campaign announced widespread layoffs — layoffs that prompted Harris’ Operations Director Kelly Mehlenbacher to slam both Maya and Campaign Manager Juan Rodriguez for a job poorly done.

“This is my third presidential campaign and I have never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly,” she wrote at the time in a resignation letter. “With less than 90 days until Iowa, we still do not have a real plan to win.”

It didn’t help, according to the Times, that nobody in the campaign had any idea who was in charge — Maya, Rodriguez, or Harris.

Returning to the present, even though Maya appears to no longer be in Harris’ immediate orbit, appearances may be deceiving.

The Daily Mail noted that her husband, Uber Chief Legal Officer Tony West, penned an internal Uber letter in August announcing that he was going on leave to support “my family and my sister-in-law on the campaign trail.”

“But that perhaps understates it,” the Daily Mail noted. “For he has reportedly emerged as a key adviser to Kamala’s current campaign, is a regular presence on Air Force Two, and acts as something of a liaison between the vice president and a wary business community.”

CNN’s Bakari Sellers recently noted as much, saying, “‘The campaign leadership is a collaborative effort, but Tony West is probably the most guiding hand there. There’s nothing that happens in the campaign that he’s not part of.”

Sound familiar? It’s exactly how Maya’s relationship to Harris’ 2020 campaign sounded.

This, the Daily Mail noted, suggests that “even though Maya is largely hidden in the shadows, she remains very much in her older sister’s orbit – as a trusted sibling, spouse to a close advisor and, no doubt, a quiet influence.”

Vivek Saxena
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