Bernie Sanders’ Iowa political director has left campaign, reports say

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Just days after a shakeup in the New Hampshire leadership of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign comes word that the candidate’s Iowa political director has departed as well.

According to reports, a Sanders aide on Wednesday confirmed that Jess Mazour, who was named Sanders’ Iowa director in March, was let go from the campaign in recent weeks.

The aide confirmed the departure on condition of anonymity because the aide wasn’t authorized to discuss personnel matters, The Associated Press reported.

SANDERS SHAKES UP CAMPAIGN LEADERSHIP IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at George Washington University in Washington, July 17, 2019. (Associated Press)

Prior to joining the sanders campaign, Mazour was an organizer for the progressive group Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. The Washington Post was first to report that she had left the campaign.

On Sunday, the Sanders campaign announced changes to its New Hampshire leadership after backers of the campaign expressed concern that the independent U.S. senator from neighboring Vermont could lose the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary early next year.

The campaign announced that Shannon Jackson, who ran Sanders’ Senate reelection campaign in Vermont in 2018, would take over New Hampshire leadersip duties from Joe Caiazzo, who was transferred to Sanders’ operation in Massachusetts, according to the Washington Times.

The Caiazzo-Jackson switch came one day after the Sanders campaign parted ways with senior New Hampshire adviser Kurt Ehrenberg.

The changes in the Sanders campaign coincide with the loss of a key endorsement for Sanders to rival 2020 progressive candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who this week attracted the backing of the Working Families Party -- a group that had supported Sanders in 2016.

“Seeing the campaign not be able to outshine Warren with WFP progressives doesn’t have me questioning WFP’s process,” Rafael Shimunov, a 2016 Sanders volunteer and past national creative director for WFP told Politico. “It has me questioning where the Bernie campaign could have done better, because I want to make sure the strongest candidate unmasks Biden and unseats Trump.”

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A Fox News Poll released Wednesday shows that Warren has pulled virtually even with Sanders in second place behind former Vice President Joe Biden, with Sanders attracting support from 18 percent of respondents, Warren 16 percent, and Biden leading with 29 percent.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and The Associated Press contributed to this report.