Mr Biden's transition has been held back by the President's refusal to concede
Credit: Reuters
Joe Biden has appointed the aide credited with steering his presidential campaign to victory to a top position in his White House as he handed many long-term loyalists senior government roles.
Jen O’Malley Dillon, 44, stepped into the role of campaign manager in April after Mr Biden had effectively secured the Democratic presidential nomination following what some in Washington DC saw as a stumbling primaries run.
Seven months later she has now become the first woman to have led a Democratic presidential campaign to victory and yesterday was named as Mr Biden’s deputy chief of staff for when he takes office on January 20.
Ms O’Malley Dillon was one of nine appointments announced yesterday to the White House teams supporting Mr Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, as the president-elect pushes ahead with transition preparations even as Donald Trump refuses to concede.
Many of those chosen have spent decades associated with the Bidens in one form or other, building on Mr Biden’s reputation for valuing loyalty and surrounding himself with a tight knit of advisers who have earned his trust.
Mr Biden said in a statement accompanying the appointments: “I am proud to announce additional members of my senior team who will help us build back better than before.
“America faces great challenges, and they bring diverse perspectives and a shared commitment to tackling these challenges and emerging on the other side a stronger, more united nation.”
Ms O'Malley Dillon joined the Biden team after he stumbled in the early primaries
Credit: The Washington Post
Ms O’Malley Dillon, deputy campaign manager for Barack Obama’s successful 2012 re-election bid, initially was not on the Biden bandwagon when the race for the Democratic primary nomination got going in 2019.
Instead she joined Beto O’Rourke, the young former Texas congressman who had electrified the Left with a narrow loss to Republican Ted Cruz for a Texas seat in the Senate in 2018.
Ms O’Malley Dillon moved with her husband, twin daughters and infant son to the state to lead Mr O’Rourke’s campaign but the candidate, lacking momentum, dropped out by the end of 2019.
In April 2020 she was drafted in to lead Mr Biden’s campaign. The former US vice president had clinched the Democratic nomination but had stumbled in the early primaries before a comeback.
Throughout the rest of the race Ms O’Malley Dillon received plaudits as the Biden team kept message discipline around the need to take the Covid-19 pandemic seriously and made few blunders.
Near the end of the campaign she urged caution over polls showing huge Biden leads, insisting the race was much tighter than it appeared, as turned out to be the case.
After the election victory Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and presidential candidate, praised Ms O’Malley Dillon as a "brilliant campaign manager" who "stayed on target under the highest stakes possible".
Ms O’Malley Dillon tweeted yesterday: Working for Joe Biden is absolutely the honour of my life. We have hard things to do, and with his leadership, we can do them together for the American people. Ready to get to work.”
Other appointments announced yesterday for when Mr Biden takes office included Dana Remus, the general counsel to the Biden campaign, becoming counsel to the president and Steve Ricchetti, a long-time Biden aide, becoming a presidential counsellor.
Cedric Richmond, a Louisiana congressman who was until last year the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, will become a senior adviser to the president and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.
Mrs Biden, the president-elect’s wife who will become the First Lady, named two people who had government roles during Barack Obama’s presidency as her chief of staff and senior adviser.
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