Kamala Harris’ Director and Deputy Director of Advance Resign During Long-Awaited Trip to Southern Border

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with members of the U.S. Border Patrol as she visited an El Paso processing center on June 25, 2021. Credit: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Two Kamala Harris staffers in charge of planning travel and trips for the vice president are resigning amid her long-awaited trip to the U.S. southern border.

Karly Satkowiak, Harris’ director of advance, and Gabrielle DeFranceschi, Harris’ deputy director of advance, have both told the vice president’s office they plan to leave in the coming weeks, The New York Times reported. The news comes just as Harris touched down in Texas on Friday and is planning to ramp up travel to push vaccination efforts next month.

Staffers working on the vice president’s advance team are responsible for planning all of her trips, surveying venues for Harris to visit and working with local officials to get the venues prepared for the media.

An advance team often travels ahead of every public appearance to set the stage and anticipate any potential issues so that when a politician arrives, the scene is perfectly curated and mitigates any damage to their image.

It is unclear why Satkowiak and DeFranceschi are resigning at this time.

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SOURCE: Newsweek, Katherine Fung