Kamala Harris’ campaign is beefing up its communications team, bringing on two seasoned White House aides for the final three months.
Ian Sams, the White House spokesman for oversight and investigations, will join Harris’ campaign in a senior spokesman role, according to two sources familiar with the matter, who were granted anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
And White House Deputy Communications Director Kristen Orthman is joining the campaign to serve as a senior strategic planning adviser.
Herbie Ziskend will take over for Orthman in the White House for the final months of President Joe Biden’s term, sources confirmed.
Known as an assertive and forceful spokesperson, Sams worked on Harris’s 2020 presidential campaign. When Biden took office in 2021, he first worked at the Department of Health and Human Services on messaging related to the administration’s response to the pandemic. He moved to the White House in 2023, after Republicans regained the House majority, and was tasked with responding to GOP and special counsel investigations.
Orthman’s resume includes stints working for former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Sen. Elizabeth WarrenTrump’s 2020 bid and the Democratic National Committee before joining the administration in 2023.
The changes reflect a broader shift in focus and diversion of White House resources toward the campaign since Harris replaced Biden on the ticket last month. Sams and Orthman will join an already deep communications team in Wilmington that has had to adjust in recent weeks to the vice president’s top press advisers, Brian Fallon and Kirsten Allen.
With the departure of senior adviser Anita Dunn earlier this month, White House communications director Ben LaBolt and Ziskend — who cut their teeth working for Barack Obama — are expected to lead the West Wing communications department through the end of Biden’s term.