Top aide to Kamala Harris leaves to join her political action committee

Sen. Kamala D. Harris’ longtime top assistant has left her Senate office to take a job with her federal political action committee, the senator’s office said.

Nathan R. Barankin, an attorney, has been Harris’ chief of staff since she took office in January 2017. Prior to that, he was her chief deputy attorney general, the No. 2 job in the California Department of Justice, since 2013.

“This is voluntary and long planned,” said Lily Adams, Harris’ Senate communications director. “Obviously, we’re grateful for everything he’s done to set up the office. It’s been a very exciting two years.”

Adams said Barankin is now a senior adviser with Fearless for the People, Harris’. It took in nearly $2.4 million during the 2017-18 campaign cycle, distributing more than $600,000 to other Democratic candidates and committees.

The news came out late Monday when Harris announced deputy chief of staff Rohini Kosoglu was taking over the top staff job. In contrast to Barankin, Kosoglu is a non-attorney and a career staffer in Washington, D.C. In a press release, Harris called Barankin a “trusted advisor” and said he “continues to fight for the interests of Californians.”

Harris has repeatedly shown up on short lists of top Democratic presidential contenders for 2020.

Barankin developed a reputation as a wunderkind in Sacramento. While still in his 20s, he became legislative director to then-California Senate Leader Bill Lockyer.

When Lockyer was elected attorney general in 1998, Barankin became his communications director at the state Department of Justice. He later held the job on an interim basis for yet another attorney general, Jerry Brown. He also earned his law degree at McGeorge School of Law while working full time, graduating in 2006.

Had he not followed Harris to D.C., Barankin would have been in line to be acting attorney general last year. While never on her campaign payroll, Barankan has received more than $8,000 in travel reimbursements while volunteering for Harris’ campaign activities.

Harris has a reputation for making her political moves early. Her campaigns for attorney general and U.S. Senate were announced nearly two years before those elections.

Barankin’s move came just two weeks after a Harris aide left after a sexual harassment lawsuit made news. Larry Wallace was a senior adviser in Harris’ Sacramento office.

The case came out of Wallace’s six-year tenure as Harris’ chief of the Law Enforcement Division at the California Department of Justice. His former assistant alleged longterm harassment followed by retaliation. Harris’ successor, Attorney General Xavier Becerra, quietly settled the case for $400,000 in June 2017.

Harris has denied knowledge of the lawsuit. Neither she nor Barankin were named in the complaint. Hartley v. State of California Department of Justice, 00205613 (Sac. Super. Ct., filed Dec. 30, 2016).