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Another top-level official in the Biden administration is bailing as questions continue to surround the president regarding his plans for 2024 as more Republicans jump in to challenge him.
The White House’s senior advisor and director of the Office of Public Engagement, Keisha Lance Bottoms, will be stepping down from her post. Her departure follows an awkward moment when the former Atlanta mayor introduced Vice President Kamala Harris to a group of journalism students. President Biden has announced that Stephen Benjamin, the former Mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, will be taking her place, the Western Journal reported.
“Mayor Benjamin is a longtime public servant, who has served the people of South Carolina for over two decades statewide and as a three-term mayor of Columbia,” Biden said.
“As a former president of both the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the African American Mayors Association, Steve’s deep relationships with communities across the country will serve our administration and the American public well,” he added, thanking Bottoms for promoting “equity” during her tenure.
“Under Keisha’s leadership, the Office of Public Engagement has kept equity at the heart of our agenda and continues to serve as the connective tissue between our Administration and everyday Americans who may not have a voice to reach Washington otherwise,” Biden said.
“I have leaned on Keisha as a close advisor with exceptional instincts, and I am grateful to her for serving our nation with honor and integrity. I wish her the best as she returns home to Atlanta to be with her family,” he concluded.
Below is the video of Keisha awkwardly introducing Harris to a group of journalism students.
WATCH:
Kamala Harris enters the room to awkward silence, her audience is told “You can clap!” as she does her signature cringe cackle.
Just so humiliating.. pic.twitter.com/ZVlQb4c1vu
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 23, 2023
“Mayor Bottoms understands that democracy is about making government work for working families, for the people who are the backbone of this country. She led the city of Atlanta with strength through the pandemic, through a summer of protests and pain, and through the mass shooting that left Atlanta’s Asian American community in fear. Keisha is bright, honorable, tough, and has the integrity required to represent our Administration to the American public. Jill and I have known Keisha for a long time and look forward to working with her more closely,” Biden said in June when he brought her on board.
With inflation, the fed raising rates, the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, a baby formula shortage, and other issues, an anonymous staffer said at the time that they are simply burned out, The Daily Mail reported.
“It’s been a long few years,” the source told The Hill, per the Daily Mail. “The burnout is real. It might not be the ideal time to leave with everything going on, but it’s the right time.”
The source said the plan was to leave in the early months before it got too close to the midterms.
“Given the complex challenges that the administration is facing, these departures are coming at an inopportune time,” Democratic strategist Joel Payne said But, he said, “at this point in an administration, it is not abnormal to experience attrition.”
The Daily Caller reported in June that its reporters had contacted each of the 50 Democrat senators and asked them if they would support President Biden in 2024, and only five of them said yes, the news site said.
Earlier, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) did not commit to supporting Biden in 2024 during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” program.
“I just want to ask about President Biden. He is saying he’s going to run again in 2024. Will you support him?” host Dana Bash said.
“You know, if the president chooses to run again in 2024 — I mean, first of all, I’m focused on winning this majority right now and preserving a majority this year in 2022,” the representative said.
“So we will cross that bridge when we get to it. But I think, if the president has a vision, then that’s something certainly we’re all willing to entertain and examine when the time comes,” ‘AOC’ added.
