(Bloomberg) -- Three top operatives of Democratic presidential candidate John Hickenlooper have left or are leaving his campaign a week after the first debates of the 2020 race drew attention to other candidates.
Hickenlooper, a former Colorado governor, said in a campaign statement Monday night that he had named M.E. Smith as campaign manager to replace Brad Komar.
According to CNN, Komar as well as the campaign finance director Dan Sorenson and communications director Lauren Hitt were also leaving. The network cited a unidentified senior Democrat as saying that Hickenlooper had no plans to drop out of the race.
Smith recently managed the re-election campaign of Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, the statement said. “M.E. has shown again and again that she knows how to lead successful campaigns in politically-difficult terrain,” Hickenlooper said.
Hickenlooper's position as a moderate with a record of bipartisanship has failed to resonate. A Real Clear Politics aggregate of polls has him failing to reach 1% support among Democratic primary voters.
At last week's debates in Miami, Hickenlooper and Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, another centrist, attacked Bernie Sanders over his Medicare for All plan.
Earlier: Colorado's Hickenlooper Announces Democratic Presidential Bid
CNN reported that Sorenson had joined Beto O'Rourke's campaign, citing a statement.
After the debates, a CNN poll showed a significant rise in support for both Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren. The survey also found that former Vice President Joe Biden's lead in the race had shrunk by 10 percentage points.
The next debates are scheduled for July 30 and 31 and will be held in Detroit.
--With assistance from Tyler Pager.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chelsea Mes in Sydney at cmes@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, John Harney, Michael Sin
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