Biden Hires Top Campaign Advisers To Join Him In White House As Senior Staff
President-elect Joe Biden is currently working on building out the staff that will accompany him into the White House as he begins his term as 46th President of the United States. This Tuesday, Biden’s team announced that he would be hiring two long-time campaign advisers for top roles, and also announced several other members who worked on his presidential campaign that will be in senior positions.
Mike Donilon was the chief strategist for Biden’s campaign who crafted a majority of his speeches and advertising strategies for the 2020 race; he came up with framing the election as a “battle for the nation.” Donilon was also announced as Biden’s senior adviser this past Tuesday. Steve Rucchetti was the Biden campaign chairman who also has worked alongside Barack Obama and Bill Clinton during their presidencies. Rucchetti was announced to be a counselor to the president.
A few days prior to these announcements Biden named Ron Klain as his chief of staff and Jen O’Malley Dillon as his deputy chief of staff. Dillion was the campaign manager who took over the campaign after Biden won the primaries and helped it receive a slew of funding.
Louisiana representative Cedric Richmond is the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, who announced he would be resigning from his House seat to take a senior adviser position for the president-elect. Richmond will also be taking on the role of director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.
Julie Chavez Rodriguez was a Biden deputy campaign manager who also previously worked as a top aide for Vice president-elect Kamala Harris during her initial campaign for presidency during the primaries. Rodriguez also worked as a special assistant to the president and senior deputy director of public engagement under President Barack Obama’s Administration, so it’s safe to say she’s familiar with everyone entering into the White House this January. Rodriguez will be director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs under President Biden.
Chief of Staff Ron Klain recently spoke with the press about all of the hires that Biden and Harris are collectively making – as well as First Lady Jill Biden who is currently working on hiring her top staffers as well – and discussed how these positions needed to be meticulously filled with individuals Biden trusts to combat all the issues America is currently facing.
“President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris have an ambitious and urgent agenda for action. The team we have already started to assemble will enable us to meet the challenges facing our country on day one.”
Dana Remus was Biden’s campaign general counsel who also has experience as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Additionally, Remus was a general counsel to the Obama Foundation and the Obama’s’ personal office, making her the perfect choice for Biden’s counsel.
Annie Tomasini was Biden’s traveling chief of staff throughout his campaign, and will be hired as director of Oval Office Operations; which is heavily thought of as a “gatekeeping role” that will put her close to the president-elect, much like she was during his campaign. Further announcements regarding Biden’s staff and cabinet will likely be announced as the days progress and we get closer and closer to the new year.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.