Inside Kamala Harris' inner circle of trusted allies
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photos: Getty Images
President Biden is known — and sometimes criticized — for his small, tight inner circle of longtime aides. If Vice President Harris is elected president, she'd rely on a larger, younger and more diverse group of trusted allies for advice.
Why it matters: Harris, a generation younger than Biden, would bring what insiders describe as a more collaborative decision-making process involving more than a dozen confidants.
They include Rohini Kosoglu, Harris' former domestic policy adviser and former Senate chief of staff, who now advises Harris on the campaign.
- Kosoglu, a longtime Harris ally whose departure from the VP's office in 2022 helped fuel concerns about high turnover in Harris' office, describes the lens through which Harris views policy:
- Harris "is always pushing us to think through people's different lived experiences," Kosoglu said. "She will raise things like: 'How would somebody living in a rural area consider this? How is this accessible for somebody that is going through a hardship?'"
Harris' inner circle
Beyond her family — Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, sister Maya Harris, and brother-in-law Tony West — these are among the allies Harris likes to consult before making big decisions:
Policy: Brian Nelson is a key policy adviser who's on Harris' campaign team. He previously worked with Harris when she was California's attorney general and when she was in the U.S. Senate. Nelson most recently was the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
- Phil Gordon has been Harris' national security adviser since her short presidential campaign in 2020. He focused on Europe and Middle East issues in the Clinton and Obama administrations.
Strategy: Minyon Moore is a longtime Democratic operative with deep roots in Democratic circles going as far back as the Clinton White House (when she was director of political affairs) and Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign (when she was field director). She most recently was chair of the Democratic National Convention Committee.
- Megan Jones, a senior political adviser on the campaign, was a part of Harris' 2020 campaign. For more than two decades, Jones was an aide to the late Democratic Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, a key battleground state this year.
- Sheila Nix is Harris' chief of staff on the campaign and has extensive ties to the Biden family. Nix was chief of staff to then-Second Lady Jill Biden during the Obama administration.
Communications: Brian Fallon is leading Harris' communications strategy on the campaign. He's a former aide to Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, and most recently led the progressive legal advocacy group Demand Justice.
Legal: Josh Hsu is a longtime counsel and policy adviser who previously was Harris' chief counsel in the VP's office and her deputy chief of staff in the Senate. He's an expert on judicial nominations and advises Harris on criminal justice policy.
In the VP's office: Lorraine Voles is Harris' chief of staff, and has been credited with stabilizing the office during a period of high turnover. Voles has significant White House experience — she was deputy press secretary for former President Bill Clinton and a spokesperson for former Vice President Al Gore.
- Kirsten Allen is Harris' communications director at the White House. She was deputy national press secretary and African American media director for Harris' 2020 campaign.
- Erin Wilson is Harris' White House deputy chief of staff. She was Biden's national political director in 2020, then White House deputy director of political strategy and outreach, and moved to the VP's office in 2022.
Editor's note: This version updates Erin Wilson's bio.
