Key members of President Joe Biden’s White House staff are doubling as his campaign staff, a move that is reportedly making some Democrat allies nervous, according to The New York Times (NYT).
Less than a year out from the 2024 election, most of Biden’s inner circle have reportedly not left for the president’s campaign headquarters in Delaware as they juggle their positions in the White House, according to The NYT. Democrat allies of the president are reportedly worried that such a position is affecting Biden’s standing in the polls, they told The NYT.
“That’s why you hear so much, you know, back-seat driving,” John Morgan, a top Biden donor, told the outlet. “Because we all think we have the answer. And, you know, the campaign gets sick of hearing from donors and political operatives and so-called experts.”
Mike Donilon, Biden’s chief strategist, Anita Dunn, who oversees communications at the White House and Jen O’Malley Dillon, the White House deputy chief of staff, are reportedly among those who haven’t moved from Washington, D.C., to Delaware, The NYT reported. After repeatedly discussing sending Donilon to Delaware, the move has reportedly stalled because Biden wants to keep his chief strategist nearby.
The president likes having his staff nearby, and some advisors are worried their absence could affect Biden and other staff in the White House, people familiar with the conversations told The NYT.
Allies of the president, some of whom are inside the campaign, have pushed the campaign to ramp up its reelection operations as staff remains in Washington, The NYT reported. Some are worried about polls showing Biden trailing former President Donald Trump in hypothetical matchups across swing states, Morgan told the NYT.
The campaign staff has been growing in size since Biden hired Julie Chávez Rodríguez, the reelection campaign manager, who is at the headquarters in Delaware, The NYT reported. In total, about 80 campaign staffers are working full-time in Delaware, according to the outlet. (RELATED: Joe Biden Faces Yet Another Mutiny, This Time Within His Own Campaign Staff)
“We invite everyone concerned about the existential threat that Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans pose to our freedom and democracy to channel their energy toward organizing, donating and talking to their friends about the stakes of this election,” Kevin Munoz, a Biden campaign spokesperson, told The NYT.
US Vice President Kamala Harris and US President Joe Biden hold hands at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) 2023 Winter meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 3, 2023. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
“During every re-election campaign, there have been senior advisers in the White House who work on related political issues, within the rules,” Andrew Bates, a White House spokesperson, told The NYT.
As the 2024 election inches closer, Trump is beating Biden in several key swing states. Across Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and North Carolina, Trump is leading Biden by as large as 9 points, according to a Morning Consult/Bloomberg survey. While trailing Trump, Biden is also facing low approval ratings. Biden’s approval rating dropped 34 percent, his lowest since taking office in 2021, according to a Monmouth University poll. (RELATED: ‘Slaps You In The Face’: Biden Can’t Seem To Get Americans To Care About His Pet Issues, Strategists Say)
“Everybody’s nervous,” Matt Bennett, the co-founder of Third Way, a non-profit that focuses on “modern center-left ideas,” told the NYT. “and the downside risk isn’t that Mitt Romney becomes president. It’s that the republic collapses, and so people are really scared.”