WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s campaign is shaking up its top leadership with Jennifer O’Malley Dillon and Mike Donilon leaving their roles in the U.S. White House to the best jobs for his bid for re-electionaccording to campaign officials.
As the campaign moves into general election mode in the coming weeks, the expected staff moves will see Donilon play a central role in the campaign’s messaging and paid media strategy and O’Malley Dillon’s role in organizing and executing up to 270 campaign tracks. The election votes — all under the direction of campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez, officials said.
In an interview Tuesday night, Chavez Rodriguez said he was “excited about a comprehensive approach with colleagues who we know have critical advisers and colleagues in the 2020 campaign.”
He added that the campaign has a clear focus on “what we have to do between now and until it’s official who our opponent is going to be.”
“All these things are going well and will continue at the clip we need,” Chavez Rodriguez told NBC News.
In an earlier statement, Chavez-Rodriguez praised Donilon and O’Malley Dillon, saying “we are pleased to have their leadership and strategic prowess full-time” to send Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to the White House for a second term. .
O’Malley Dillon’s new role would be a plan down the road and has now been accelerated because of the shrinking GOP field, the source said. The source said the president still trusts Chavez Rodriguez.
It was O’Malley Dillon’s move It was first reported by The New York Times.
Jim Messina, who served as campaign manager for President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, called the additions to the campaign staff a “smart move.”
“This is a smart move by President Biden and Julie — having additional senior political aides focus full-time on re-election is exactly what you’d expect the White House to do as the general election showdown comes into focus,” Messina said in a statement.
Maria Cardona, a senior adviser to the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement that the steps are a “critical and standard step” to bring credible and effective leaders to the campaign ahead of the election as Julie commands the troops to victory in November. “
O’Malley Dillon’s switch to Biden’s re-election campaign was made in part, two sources familiar with the decision said, because former President Donald Trump consolidated support in the Republican Party faster than expected.
O’Malley Dillon was Biden’s 2020 campaign manager. He was deputy chief of staff at the White House after Biden became president.
Donilon was the chief strategist for Biden’s 2020 campaign and has served as an adviser to the president since taking office in 2021.
Chavez Rodriguez was a campaign manager from last year.
The shakeup comes after Trump won Florida with a resounding victory in Iowa last week. Governor Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy Stopping his White House bids and endorsing the former president. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is Trump’s primary GOP challenger as she seeks the Republican nomination.
Trump has already won the support of the majority of Republicans in the Senate.
This month’s results NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom survey In Iowa, probably three-quarters of the Republican caucus participants were found He thinks Trump can beat Biden despite legal hurdles from the former president.