Vice President Kamala Harris’ transition team is quietly developing plans for who could staff her administration as she crisscrosses the country trying to win an election that’d actually let her put them to use. Harris herself is entirely focused on winning, according to two sources close to her and the transition team. But she’s been getting weekly updates from her team as they toil away out of view in a federally funded workspace, preparing for what could be if Harris wins in November.
“They’re working in secret, and everybody is focused on winning the election, which has left little opportunity for a lot of personal discussion about personnel,” said a third source close to the vice president.
Harris has assembled a purposely skeletal team. The team’s leaders are slowly hiring more people, multiple sources told NOTUS, as they prepare to potentially orchestrate the first transition from a sitting president to a sitting vice president since 1988. They’ve been looking for “researchers and lawyers” to be ready to begin their vetting efforts beyond their current limited capabilities should Harris win. And it’s all happening with a low profile and a smaller group of advisers than previous Democratic transitions.