Beneath the facade of "joy" that Kamala Harris has presented to the public, her campaign is brewing with tensions between rival cliques loyal to her and Joe Biden. 

Jealousy over titles, strategic disagreements, and clannish ties are mixing into a toxic brew, insiders told Politico. 

Drama at Harris campaign

The tensions show that Democrats are still dealing with open wounds from the unprecedented push to force Joe Biden off the ticket, which exposed dormant resentments between Biden and the party's elites.

Biden's longtime adviser Anita Dunn has claimed that Biden could have survived his disastrous debate if Democrats and the media had reacted differently.

While Harris has rallied the party and its media apparatus behind her, mistrust lingers between Harris' team and Biden holdovers.

Tensions grew when Harris hired Obama's 2008 campaign manager, David Plouffe, as a top strategist. Some believe Plouffe's title, senior adviser for path to 270 and strategy, makes it sound like he is the new campaign manager.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, the former Biden official and campaign chair, asked for assurances that her role would not be diminished.

“There is no doubt when you have 2,000 people and you are changing who is at the top of the ticket that it’s going to take a minute to make sure that everyone is seated well, and we still have some work to do on that,” O’Malley Dillon said.

"Mean girls"

Meanwhile, team Harris is skeptical of Biden staffers who have long dismissed Harris as a joke (like most Americans did until a few weeks ago.)

Some fear the internal tensions could cripple the campaign, which has been riding a wave of positive media for more than three weeks. Harris has yet to sit for a single unscripted interview, prompting protests from Trump and Republicans that she is ducking scrutiny.

She may not be able to hide her weaknesses much longer. Complaints of mismanagement have long followed Harris throughout her political career, including her previous failed run for president. Harris' 2020 campaign imploded in 2019, before primary voting began.

Many have compared her 2024 campaign to the vicious high school clique from the movie Mean Girls, and it appears the comparison is more than borne out by reports of petty drama inside her operation.

This could become a serious problem for Harris down the line - despite all the hype she's getting, this is going to be a close race, and she needs her team on the same page.