Rep. Marcia Fudge not happy with Kamala Harris campaign manager

A recent NY Times article has painted a picture of the Kamala Harris presidential campaign as failing and lacking direction or leadership.

Several staffers have left the campaign and one of those staffers Kelly Mehlenbecher, the campaign’s state operations director, wrote a blistering resignation letter that paints a picture of low morale among staffers of a directionless campaign with "no real plan to win" ahead of the crucial Iowa caucus in 2020.

In the letter Mehlenbecher lays much of the blame at the feet of campaign manager Juan Rodriguez.

Others including an early supporter, Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) have also chimed in the leadership of Rodriguez.

"I have told her there needs to be a change," Fudge told the Times. "The weakness is at the top. And it's clearly Juan. He needs to take responsibility — that's where the buck stops."

Rep. Barbara Lee endorses Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris just picked up her biggest endorsement to date in her fledgling 2020 campaign: Congresswoman Barbara Lee, former Congressional Black Caucus chair and all-around anti-war and social justice activist star.

Lee, who has been called "the House's lefty conscience" will be California co-chair of Harris' presidential campaign. "Watching Kamala's career in the East Bay and San Francisco for 20 years, I've witnessed her deep passion for justice and opportunity and I know she will be a president truly of the people, by the people, and for the people," Lee said in a statement obtained exclusively by CNN.

"She will increase working Americans' incomes, expand health insurance to more Americans and restore dignity and responsibility to the Oval Office. She is a leader uniquely qualified to bring us together and mobilize a movement of Americans to return power to the people."

With her endorsement, Lee becomes the first CBC member to weigh in on the Democratic primary, a contest that for the first time includes two CBC members -- Harris and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey.

[SOURCE: CNN]

Kamala Harris gets support from Iowa's Deidre DeJear

California Sen. Kamala Harris is announcing the backing of Iowa Democrat Deidre DeJear as she travels to the early 2020 caucus state Monday.

DeJear was Iowa's first African American to win a primary for statewide office last year, but lost in her attempt to unseat Iowa's Republican secretary of state.

DeJear has since been courted by several Democrats taking steps toward running for president. Harris campaigned with DeJear in Iowa last fall after the two met in Washington, D.C., and California.

Harris is scheduled to travel to Des Moines to participate in a CNN town hall-style event live Monday evening.

Harris announced her candidacy for president Jan. 21. She also announced that Will Dubbs, a former aide to Hillary Clinton in 2016, will direct the California senator's 2020 Iowa campaign.

[SOURCE: YAHOO NEWS]

Democratic donors buzzing about Kamala Harris

The Democratic donor class is abuzz about Kamala Harris possibly running for president in 2020 after the freshman California senator was feted this weekend at an event in the Hamptons surrounded by top fundraisers.

The Bridgehampton event, where Harris mingled with top donors and supporters of Hillary Clinton, was the ultimate signal that Harris is “thinking much bigger” than the Senate, one top bundler said.

“She’s running for president. Take it to the bank,” another fundraiser said. “She’s absolutely going to run.” Donors say Harris is giving them a glimmer of hope when they need it the most.

They see the former prosecutor-turned-California attorney general as embodying the qualities a Democratic presidential candidate would need to win the White House in 2020.

They also see the 52-year-old African-American woman as a fresh face.

“People are looking for champions. … She’s in that category. There are people who might not know her real well but want to like her. What little they know, they like.”

Since November, Harris has become one of her party’s biggest draws: She has raised upwards of $600,000 for Senate candidates in recent months, and she recently raised $227,000 in an email for MoveOn.Org, according to sources close to Harris.

Read more: Dem donors buzzing about Kamala Harris