Joe Biden picks longtime adviser Ron Klain as chief of staff

Ron Klain has known and worked with Joe Biden since the Democrat's 1987 presidential campaign

Credit: AFP

Joe Biden, US President-elect, has chosen his longtime adviser Ron Klain to reprise his role as his chief of staff, installing an aide with decades of experience in the top role in his White House.

Mr Klain will lead a White House likely to be consumed by the response to the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to spread unchecked across the nation, and he’ll face the challenge of working with a divided Congress that could include a Republican-led Senate.

Mr Klain served as the coordinator to the Ebola response during the 2014 outbreak.

In a statement on Wednesday night, Mr Biden suggested he chose Mr Klain for the position because his longtime experience in Washington had prepared him for such challenges.

"His deep, varied experience and capacity to work with people all across the political spectrum is precisely what I need in a White House chief of staff as we confront this moment of crisis and bring our country together again," Mr Biden said.

Joe Biden, with Ebola Response Coordinator Ron Klain in 2014

Credit: Reuters

Mr Klain served as chief of staff for Mr Biden during Barack Obama’s first term, was chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore in the mid-1990s and was a key adviser on the Biden campaign, guiding Mr Biden’s debate preparations and coronavirus response. He’s known and worked with Mr Biden since the Democrat’s 1987 presidential campaign.

The choice of Klain underscores the effort the incoming Biden administration will place on the coronavirus response from day one. Klain has experience in public health as the Ebola response coordinator and played a central role in drafting and implementing the Obama administration’s economic recovery plan in 2009.

Mr Klain said he was "honoured" to have been chosen for the position.

I’ve seen so many kind wishes tonight on this website. Thank you — and I’m sorry I can’t reply to each of you.

I’m honored by the President-elect’s confidence and will give my all to lead a talented and diverse team in a Biden-Harris WH.

— Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) November 12, 2020

Choosing Mr Klain is also likely to assuage some concerns among progressives who had been gearing up for a fight over one of the first and biggest staff picks Mr Biden will make as he builds out his White House team. The chief of staff is typically a gatekeeper for the president, crafts political and legislative strategy and often serves as a liaison to Capitol Hill in legislative negotiations.

Progressives had expressed concerns that Mr Biden would pick one of his other former chiefs of staff: Steve Richetti, who faces scepticism for his work as a lobbyist, or Bruce Reed, who is seen as too much of a moderate to embrace reforms pushed by the party’s base. But progressives see Mr Klain as open to working with them on top priorities like climate change and health care.