Alabama Democratic Sen. Doug Jones appointed a black chief of staff Tuesday, becoming the only Democratic senator to do so as the party struggles to be more diverse.
Jones appointed Dana Johnson, a former Department of Transportation assistant secretary during the Obama administration, as his chief of staff, reports USA Today.
“Today I’m proud to announce that we have recruited four outstanding individuals to join our team,” Jones said in a statement. “Each of them possess long and impressive careers in public service, and as Alabama natives, share my commitment to the people of our state.”
After his election to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ former seat, Jones promised to hire a diverse staff that “reflected the diversity of Alabama” when he went into the Senate.
“I want to make sure that I have the best staff available. It will absolutely reflect the diversity of the state of Alabama. I’m not going to get bogged on the numbers, but I can promise everyone that we’re going to represent the entire state of Alabama,” Jones said previously on CNN.
Despite the Democratic party’s calls for diversity, most of those in the Senate do not have black people in positions of power. Jones is now the only Democratic senator with a black chief of staff, while Republican Senators Tim Scott and Jerry Moran also appointed black chiefs of staff to their offices.
A previous report in 2015 found that less than 3 percent of senior leadership staff in Democratic Senate officers were filled by minorities. Another report in 2016 found that only five percent of Senate staff was made up of black people, prompting the Senate Black Legislative Staff Caucus to send a letter to Senate offices calling on them to bring diversity to their staff.
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