For Harris, remaking Biden's White House could be the best revenge

• Harris and Emhoff — along with Harris' sister Maya and her husband, Tony West — have taken note of Biden advisers and big-dollar donors they suspect of knifing the vice president to reporters or fellow Democrats, two people familiar with the matter tell Axios.
• Beyond those grudges, Harris has a dim view of some members of Biden's team and would want her own people in place, the sources said.

The big picture: It's normal to have significant staff turnover with a new president — even when the incoming and outgoing president are in the same party.

• But many Biden officials were preparing to stay for a second term before the 81-year-old president abruptly dropped his re-election bid in July, under pressure from Democratic leaders.
• Others in Biden's administration were looking for potential promotions, with some eyeing Cabinet posts.
• Those plans have changed.

Harris' sudden ascension has set off a furious scramble inside the White House, as aides either look for a new job for next year, or suck up to Harris' team in hopes of gaining favor.

• One White House official told Axios: "Staff who haven't given the vice president's team the time of day for three years are suddenly very quick to loop them in on emails and send them updates."

Zoom in: Harris is likely to replace or move all of Biden's senior advisers — many of whom have been close to Biden for years and may have headed for the exits anyway.

• That includes Biden's most trusted advisers, Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti — the two men who were with the president at his Delaware beach house when he decided to drop out of the race on July 21.
• Harris' team nudged Donilon aside when she took over as the Democratic nominee, and Biden asked him to return to the White House.
• Ricchetti was interested in being White House chief of staff in Biden's second term, but that's unlikely in a Harris White House. He doesn't have the longstanding relationship with Harris that he does with Biden.

Other senior officials, such as Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, deputy chiefs of staff Bruce Reed, Natalie Quillian, and Annie Tomasini — along with top economic aides Lael Brainard and Jared Bernstein — are likely to leave their current roles. Some, including Zients, were always expected to depart at the end of the year.

• Much of the White House's press and communications team — including senior adviser Ben LaBolt and press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre — also will depart. People familiar with the matter said both planned to leave at the end of the year regardless.

What they're saying: "As President Biden has said, choosing Vice President Harris was the best decision he made as the Democratic nominee," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Axios.

• "... That's why he passionately endorsed her out of the gate, rejecting other approaches that would divide the party."
• Bates added that Donilon "has been with the president for 40 years and made the decision to return when the president left the race. There was no question he would to be with the president as he closed out his historic presidency."
• After this story was first published, an official familiar with Harris' thinking said the vice president has had good working relationships within the White House and appreciates the progress she and Biden were able to make together on key issues such as lowering the cost of prescription drugs.
• Harris' campaign declined to comment.

What we're watching: Harris would like to shake up Biden's Cabinet too, but Republicans could make it difficult for her if the party wins control of the Senate and the confirmation process.

• Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Harris talked past each other early in Biden's administration. But the former Rhode Island governor has been an active surrogate for Harris (and has traveled with Emhoff) in recent months, and the Harris-Raimondo relationship has improved, a person familiar with the matter told Axios.

Harris and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who both came up in California politics, clashed in meetings early in Biden's administration over the border crisis and what to do with incoming migrants, people familiar with the situation said.

• Becerra spokesperson Jeff Nesbit told Axios: "They have never clashed."
• He added: "Secretary Becerra and Vice President Harris have known each other for years and have collaborated closely on big, important issues like maternal health, reproductive freedom and [Affordable Care Act] expansions."
• Becerra has begun planning a potential run for California governor in 2026, Politico reported.

Alumni of Barack Obama's White House interested in working for Harris believe they have an ally in former ambassador Yohannes Abraham, who's helping prepare for a potential Harris transition.

• Abraham, who began working for Obama in 2007 as a field organizer in Iowa and was a senior adviser to the Obama Foundation, had a similar role in Biden's 2020 transition. He later was chief of staff for the National Security Council and ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Reality check: "The transition is not doing any personnel selection pre-election, and any speculation to the contrary is fiction," a Harris transition spokesperson told Axios. "Instead, we are focused on setting up the infrastructure necessary to be ready."

• There's almost always tension between the offices of a president and vice president, so Harris' grievances aren't unique.
• Despite some staffs' frustrations with each other, Biden and Harris have had a respectful relationship.

Zoom out: Advisers in both camps acknowledge that Harris had a rocky start to her tenure, but some Biden aides, allies and donors were loud in their criticism.

• Over the summer, some of them argued that Harris' weakness as a potential presidential candidate justified Biden staying in the race, despite concerns about the president's age.
• Biden himself hesitated about withdrawing, in part because he had doubts about Harris' chances, Axios reported. His campaign pushed a similar view that Biden, not Harris, was the better candidate to defeat Trump.

The bottom line: If Harris wins the White House, she'll have the last laugh.