Kirsten Allen will become the new press secretary for Vice President Kamala Harris, leaving the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) after three high-profile firings at the Vice President’s press room.
“Fun day! It is my honor and joy to work for @VP and continue to serve this historic administration,” Allen tweeted.
Allen currently serves as National Covid-19 Response Spokesperson for HHS. Allen previously worked for Harris as Deputy National Spokesperson and African American Media Director during Harris’ 2019 presidential campaign. She has also held public affairs positions on the House Coronavirus Subcommittee and on the Congressional Democratic Campaign Committee.
Allen was hired because the position of press secretary had been vacant for several months. Last week, her deputy spokeswoman, Sabrina Singh, announced she was leaving for the defense ministry. Chief Press Officer and Senior Advisor Simon Sanders stepped down in December, shortly after the departure of communications director Ashley Etienne.
Kirsten Allen will become the new press secretary for Vice President Kamala Harris, leaving the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) after three high-profile firings at the Vice President’s press room.
Kirsten Allen (see above) is currently HHS’ National Covid-19 Response Spokesperson.
Allen previously worked for Harris as Deputy National Spokesperson and African American Media Director during Harris’ 2019 presidential campaign.
Singh was Harris’ longest-serving press officer, serving with the vice president for over two years, joining the then-senator’s team in March 2020 during the presidential campaign to manage communications after working on campaigns for Michael Bloomberg and Corey Booker.
The vice president’s office staff flee the ship after a year full of messaging errors and a flurry of personal attacks on the vice president, combined with viral rumors of office toxicity and tensions between the offices of Harris and President Biden.
Allen’s hiring announcement came just as juicy details of tension and chaos in the vice president’s office were leaked in leaked excerpts from New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin’s book It Won’t Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future. and Alex Burns.
Harris’s office made a fuss over a Vogue cover that showed the vice president wearing sneakers before President Biden’s office told him to back off, saying cover concerns were “first world issues,” according to the book.
Harris reportedly sent her chief of staff to scold Biden’s staff for not standing up when she entered the room, as they do for the president, with some in her office complaining about Biden’s “all-white interior environment.”
They complained that Harris had been assigned to work on immigration in the Northern Triangle countries, and the vice president herself hissed at Biden for calling her a “frontier czar,” insisting that, according to the book, she was focusing on “indigenous reasons.”
Harris has lost 10 employees since June. The vice president’s office can have up to 50 employees at any given time.
Of the four people in the senior press office that started with Harris, only one remained, Herbie Ziskend. According to an email sent to ‘s internal address, Ziskend will be promoted to Senior Communications Adviser.
The reshuffle of the vice president’s press team is being led by a new director of communications, Jamal Simmons. The reset came as both the President and Vice President sought to increase public participation to combat poor poll results.
After Singh, Harris lost her national security adviser, Nancy McEldowney.
McEldowney will be replaced by Deputy Philip Gordon, according to a statement from the Office of the Vice President. He currently serves as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser to the Vice President.
Both McEldowney and Gordon have worked in the White House since the beginning of the Biden administration and have advised Harris and President Biden on issues such as Afghanistan, Iran, Ukraine, and cybersecurity issues.
McEldowney said she was resigning to “focus on some pressing personal matters” but would remain a passionate supporter of the Biden Harris administration.
Deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh announced she was leaving for the Defense Department last week.
Press Secretary Simon Sanders and Communications Director Ashley Etienne left the company last year. A total of ten officials have left since Harris visited Central America last June.
“It was a difficult decision because I am so deeply committed to the work we do and the critical national interests we serve. But after more than a year, this is the right decision for my family,” she said.
McEldowne did not say what her last day would be like, but said she “doesn’t run out the door.”
McEldowney is a 31-year veteran of the Foreign Service who has served as Ambassador to Bulgaria and Deputy Chief of Mission to Azerbaijan and Turkey.
The adviser’s departure comes on the heels of Harris’ highly paid NATO trip to Poland and Romania, and after a turbulent first year marked by a string of public relations failures.
In Warsaw, Harris sparked controversy after ridiculing questions about the refugee crisis stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Vice President’s nervous laughter resounded as she, along with Polish President Andrzej Duda, answered journalists’ questions about accepting Ukrainian refugees to take the burden off Poland.
Harris and Duda looked at each other to see which one wanted to answer. “All right,” Harris said with a laugh.
“A friend in need is really a friend,” she said before giggling at her line. Duda then answered the question.