(CBrief) – Another top-level official in the Biden administration is bailing as questions continue to surround the president regarding his plans for 2024 as more Republicans jump in to challenge him.

The White House’s senior advisor and director of the Office of Public Engagement, Keisha Lance Bottoms, will be stepping down from her post. Her departure follows an awkward moment when the former Atlanta mayor introduced Vice President Kamala Harris to a group of journalism students. President Biden has announced that Stephen Benjamin, the former Mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, will be taking her place, the Western Journal reported.

“Mayor Benjamin is a longtime public servant, who has served the people of South Carolina for over two decades statewide and as a three-term mayor of Columbia,” Biden said on Monday.

“As a former president of both the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the African American Mayors Association, Steve’s deep relationships with communities across the country will serve our administration and the American public well,” he added, thanking Bottoms for promoting “equity” during her tenure.

“Under Keisha’s leadership, the Office of Public Engagement has kept equity at the heart of our agenda and continues to serve as the connective tissue between our Administration and everyday Americans who may not have a voice to reach Washington otherwise,” Biden said.

“I have leaned on Keisha as a close advisor with exceptional instincts, and I am grateful to her for serving our nation with honor and integrity. I wish her the best as she returns home to Atlanta to be with her family,” he concluded.

Below is the video of Keisha awkwardly introducing Harris to a group of journalism students.

WATCH:

Bottoms took to Twitter to note that her time in the administration was not supposed to last a long time, adding that she gave up taking a summer off in order to accept her position in the White House.

“Term ended in January 2022. I didn’t take a break, planning to work hard for 6 months and relax over the summer,” she wrote. “@WhiteHouse called again in June and I said, ‘I’ll stay just thru midterms in November.’”

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