Astead W. Herndon and Shane Goldmacher

The moves are the most serious reboot from any Democratic campaign that was once in the top tier, but they may not be enough to ensure a turnaround for Harris. Even as she commits to campaigning aggressively in Iowa, she is keeping up a busy national fundraising schedule to avoid falling further behind financially; in July, August and September, Harris spent nearly $1.25 for every dollar she raised.

The restructuring came on the same day that a new poll, from USA Today/Suffolk, showed Harris dropping to 3%, down 3 percentage points since August. It puts Harris well behind the leaders and in a virtual tie with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, whom Harris thought so little of two months ago that she mostly ignored her attacks in the late July debate.

“Campaigns are about tough choices and this one is no different,” Harris’ communications director, Lily Adams, said on Twitter. “Kamala &amp; this team launched with 1 goal in mind: win the nomination &amp; take on Trump. It wasn’t to just participate. We’re going to make the hard choices necessary to put us in a place to achieve that goal.”

Harris’ struggles are another sign that the once-crowded Democratic field is increasingly sorting itself into haves and have-nots, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, separating themselves from the pack.

Harris is one of two black senators in the field — the other is Cory Booker of New Jersey, who is also ranking low in the polls — and some Democrats have lamented that what began as the most diverse Democratic field in history has narrowed to a top tier that is all white. Others say the nonwhite candidates themselves are responsible and point out that Biden is a front-runner because he has amassed black supporters at the expense of challengers like Harris.

Last month, Harris announced that her campaign would shift resources to Iowa, another strategic concession after it began the race with a national strategy and an eye toward more diverse primaries in South Carolina, Nevada and California. This month, she made five trips and spent 15 days in Iowa, and the campaign said she was expected to continue that focus moving forward.

Matt Bennett, co-founder of Third Way, a Democratic group seeking a more moderate candidate, said Harris’ candidacy “hasn’t gelled yet.”

“She’s not dead,” Bennett said. “What I hear most of all is that she has skills and I want to love her, but I don’t know, sometimes, who she is.

“All the to-ing and fro-ing she did about health care and other issues confused people,” he said. “What folks in our world was looking for was a steadying of her narrative around a central theme — and she can still do that.”

In a memo to the staff Wednesday, Harris’ campaign manager, Juan Rodriguez, said the campaign needed to “reduce expenditures” to keep up with top rivals. He outlined several steps the campaign was taking, including pay cuts for top campaign staff members — Rodriguez said he would be among them — and letting aides go from its Baltimore office.

Rodriguez also wrote that the field staff from New Hampshire, Nevada and California would be redeployed to Iowa in the coming weeks. The campaign’s operation in South Carolina will remain “at full force,” Rodriguez said, as Harris seeks to position herself as the alternative to Biden for moderate black voters in South Carolina, who make up a majority of the Democratic electorate.

“These decisions are difficult but will ensure the campaign is positioned to execute a robust Iowa ground game and a minimum seven-figure paid media campaign in the weeks leading up to the caucus,” Rodriguez said.

He began the memo with a note of optimism. “Plenty of winning primary campaigns, like John Kerry’s in 2004 and John McCain’s in 2008, have had to make tough choices on their way to the nomination, and this is no different,” he wrote.

But Harris’ problems are twofold: remaining financially viable and overcoming the perception among voters that she is not delivering a clear message.

Last Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California headlined a major fundraiser for her in Los Angeles, with co-chairs that included Hollywood heavyweights like J.J. Abrams, Donna Langley and Brian Weinstein. On Monday, she was back in New York for another event, with a second fundraiser scheduled in the city a week later.

From July to September, Harris burned through $2.72 million more than she raised, and that does not include an additional $911,000 in unpaid debts, including $265,000 for polling, $183,000 in legal bills and $106,000 from a previous media buy.

Her digital fundraising among small donors received a huge boost after her June debate performance, but that momentum fizzled in August and September, federal records indicate.

Among larger donors, Harris has virtually disappeared as a topic of conversation, as they have increasingly looked at Buttigieg as the most viable alternative to Biden among the center-left candidates. That is a reversal from earlier in the year when Harris was viewed that way, according to multiple donors and fundraisers.

Kurt Wagar, a Democratic fundraiser for Harris in Florida and former ambassador to Singapore, called the retrenchment and focus on Iowa “probably the right move,” recalling that Barack Obama dispatched many staff members to that state before the caucuses, as well.

Wagar is hosting a fundraiser for Harris in November and said he was “getting good traction” with contributors. “You never know until after the fact if it’s too soon or too late,” he said of the singular focus on Iowa.

However, Harris’ critics — including those in the Democratic Party — have repeatedly said her problems were one of message, not strategy. In recent campaign events, she has tried to tie her campaign to the ongoing impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, stating that “justice is on the ballot” in 2020.

She has also ended her stump speeches by directly responding to voters’ fears that nominating a woman of color would somehow complicate the mission of defeating Trump.

“Let’s have some real talk,” Harris said in Las Vegas, about her not being “electable.” “This is not a new conversation for me. This is a conversation that I’ve heard every time I’ve ran a campaign and — here’s the operative word — won.”

But a lack of clarity on policy over almost 10 months of the campaign may have soiled her reputation as a bold truth teller with the Democratic base. Harris spent the initial stages of her candidacy in the Democrats’ most progressive lane, signing onto the “Medicare for All” bill proposed by Sanders. She has, at times, backed progressive ideas such as eliminating the Senate filibuster to pass the Green New Deal and endorsing mandatory gun buyback programs.

At the same time, she has pitched herself as a moderate Democrat in the mold of Biden, whose standing with black voters has complicated Harris’ campaign strategy.

“I’m not trying to restructure society,” Harris said in July.

In September, she gave a different answer.

“I plan on restructuring things in a way that will address those things that wake people up in the middle of the night,” she said then.

This article originally appeared in

Harris Cuts Staff in Effort to Revive Bid

Sen. Kamala Harris of California took her most drastic action yet on Wednesday to salvage her once-promising, now-languishing presidential bid, laying off staff members at her Baltimore headquarters and elsewhere, and redeploying others to Iowa, where she is looking to rejuvenate her campaign.

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Astead W. Herndon and Shane Goldmacher

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Harris Cuts Staff in Effort to Revive Bid