The Kamala Harris campaign is bolstering its communications team, bringing in two experienced staffers from the White House for the final three months of the campaign.
Ian Sams, the White House spokesman for oversight and investigations, will join the Harris campaign as a senior spokesman, according to two of the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
Additionally, former White House deputy communications director Kristen Orthmann will join the campaign as senior adviser for strategic planning.
Harvey Ziskend is set to replace Orthman in the White House during the final months of President Joe Biden’s term, sources said.
Sams, known as an assertive, hard-hitting spokesperson, worked on Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign. When Biden took office in 2021, he first worked at the Department of Health and Human Services, managing the administration’s messaging on the pandemic response. He moved to the White House in 2023 after Republicans recaptured the House majority, and was tasked with handling the GOP and special counsel investigations.
Orthman’s background includes working for former Senate Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid. Elizabeth WarrenShe ran for president in 2020 and served as a member of the Democratic National Committee before joining the administration in 2023.
The move reflects a shift in focus and White House resources being directed toward the campaign since Ms. Harris took over from Mr. Biden at the top of the ticket last month. Mr. Sams and Mr. Orthman will join an already robust communications team in Wilmington, which in recent weeks has had to coordinate with Brian Fallon and Kirsten Allen, the vice president’s top communications aides.
Following the resignation of senior adviser Anita Dunn earlier this month, White House communications director Ben LaBolt and Ziskend, both former Obama alumni, are expected to lead the White House communications force for the remainder of Biden’s term.
