President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday announced that several alumni of his presidential campaign will take on senior positions as soon as he enters the White House in January.
Last week, Biden appointed longtime adviser and veteran Democratic operative Ron Klain as his chief of staff.
On Tuesday, Biden hired a slew of familiar faces from the campaign trail to surround him in the White House.
Our White House senior staff is composed of individuals who demonstrate the President-elect's commitment to building an administration that looks like America, has expertise in governing, and will be ready deliver results for working families on Day One.https://t.co/MXnMExXAFp pic.twitter.com/DaWmRI8PRk
— Biden-Harris Presidential Transition (@Transition46) November 17, 2020
Among Biden’s announced hires on Tuesday is Dana Remus, who served as the Biden campaign’s general counsel. Remus also previously clerked for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and served as general counsel to the Obama Foundation and the Obamas’ personal office.
Jen O’Malley Dillon, whose hiring was reported on Monday, will serve as Biden’s deputy chief of staff. O’Malley Dillon took over as Biden’s campaign manager after working on then-Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke’s campaign. O’Malley Dillon, who turned Biden’s campaign into a competitive fundraising machine, is the second woman to spearhead a successful presidential campaign after Trump 2016 campaign manager Kellyanne Conway.
Mike Donilon, who served as the chief strategist for Biden’s campaign and took the lead in crafting the then-Democratic presidential candidate’s speeches, will be a senior adviser to Biden.
Steve Ricchetti, who worked as Biden’s campaign chairman and is an alum of both former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton’s White Houses, will be a counselor to the president.
Julie Chavez Rodriguez comes on board as the director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs after serving as a Biden deputy campaign manager. Chavez Rodriguez joined the Biden campaign after serving as a top aide to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign during the primary. She is also an alum of the Obama administration, where she served as a special assistant to the president and senior deputy director of public engagement.
Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) — who chaired the Congressional Black Caucus and has a very close relationship with House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), whom he served with in Washington and Baton Rouge — will step down from his House seat to serve as a senior adviser to Biden and the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.
Biden’s appointment of his campaign alums to join him at the White House comes amid his efforts to begin his transition despite President Trump’s refusal to concede. Biden’s transition process has already hit major snags as General Services Administration chief Emily Murphy, a Trump-appointee, has yet to sign a letter of “ascertainment” that would allow the President-elect’s transition team to contact federal agencies or access the millions of dollars set aside for it.
