Scoop: Kamala Harris' brother-in-law emerges as key campaign adviser
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In 2010, Tony West, left, and Kamala Harris look up the poll results for the California attorney general race with family Maya Harris, Meena Harris and parents Frank and Peggy West. Photo: Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
Vice President Kamala Harris' brother-in-law and former U.S. associate attorney general Tony West has become a powerful adviser in her new campaign, as Harris asserts control over an organization built to elect a different candidate.
Why it matters: With less than 100 days to go, Harris is delicately retooling the presidential campaign with people she trusts, Democrats familiar with the matter told Axios.
- But some Democratic advisers in close contact with the campaign worry West's prominent role could re-create the same family dynamics that at times caused unnecessary drama in her 2020 campaign.
Between the lines: Instead of an overhaul as some senior Democrats think is needed, Harris is making more modest adjustments — installing trusted allies in key positions, but keeping much of the existing structure in place.
- Among the biggest changes so far is the emergence of West in the informal, but influential, role of helping Harris take control of the campaign.
- He is married to Harris' sister, Maya, who is not expected to take an operational campaign role like she did in 2020 but will remain a close confidante.
Driving the news: In the first weeks since Harris became the likely nominee, West has frequently been at her side and is a point person in communicating with the campaign's leadership.
- When Harris rallied the campaign staff in Wilmington, Delaware, last month, she gave a vote of confidence to the existing campaign team and announced she had asked chair Jen O'Malley Dillon to stay in her role.
- O'Malley Dillon now has a direct report to Harris, which would make installing someone above her difficult.
- But Harris did not select many of the campaign's key operatives and strategists and is beginning to place her own advisers in important roles for the final campaign sprint.
Brian Fallon, for instance, is now helping steer the campaign's communications operation and is traveling with Harris — adding another voice to the team that has largely been led by aides Michael Tyler and TJ Ducklo.
- Harris also brought on Treasury Department official Brian Nelson, who worked with her when she was California attorney general.
- Anita Dunn, the senior adviser to Biden at the White House who had been charged with coordinating campaign and White House strategies, is leaving the West Wing for a pro-Harris Super PAC.
Zoom in: Harris campaign aides describe the current environment as "energizing" but "chaotic" — there is a renewed sense of hope and optimism, but some are still unclear about who is in charge of what.
- Harris has already made some distinct changes in strategy by embracing a message focused on "freedom" and the future rather than Biden's emphasis on "democracy."
Zoom out: Harris also has a group of outside advisers who could be critical in steering the campaign in the coming weeks.
- That includes Minyon Moore, who is chairing the Democratic National Convention, and Stephanie Cutter, who has helped Harris with media training during her term as vice president, two people familiar with the matter told Axios.
The bottom line: Many successful presidential candidates have had their family members serve as close advisers.
- While it created friction with his staff, Biden's family has served in close roles his entire career and his sister Valerie Biden Owens served as a confidante with no formal role in his 2020 campaign.
- A young George W. Bush (then known as "Junior") was intimately involved in his father's successful 1988 campaign and his unsuccessful re-election bid four years later.
- Robert F. Kennedy also ran John F. Kennedy's campaign in 1960 when he won the presidency.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story had a photo caption that incorrectly labeled Frank and Peggy West as Frank and Peggy Harris.
