Jen O’Malley Dillon, President Biden’s 2020 campaign manager, will lead his reelection campaign, a notable move as the campaign looks ahead to a likely general election rematch against former President Trump.
Dillon has served as deputy chief of staff throughout the Biden administration and will leave her role to move to Wilmington for the campaign, The New York Times first reported and a source familiar confirmed with The Hill.
Biden campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo shared a Washington Post report on X about the change-up, which said that O’Malley Dillon will serve as campaign chair and Mike Donilon, a White House senior adviser, will also move to the campaign as chief strategist.
Julie Chavez Rodriguez will stay in her role as campaign manager. Biden named Rodriguez, former director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, his campaign manager in April when he officially launched his reelection campaign.
Ducklo also shared a quote on Tuesday from Rodriguez, saying “We’re thrilled to have [Mike and Jen’s] leadership and strategic prowess focused full-time” on sending Biden back to the White House.
The move comes as Trump is close to solidifying his position as the Republican nominee after months of polling ahead of contenders and a win in Iowa and as the Biden campaign has faced criticism over its response to concerning polling numbers for Biden and over its overall structure.
Former President Obama reportedly expressed concerns to Biden at a lunch at the White House in recent weeks, emphasizing the importance of having more top-level decision-makers in the campaign headquarters or empowering those already there, according to reporting by The Washington Post.
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The campaign had pushed back on criticism about its structure, arguing that it’s scaling up at the right time while it looks to make waves in the new year with Biden targeting Trump in speeches.
Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, has also repeatedly warned about Biden’s poor marks against Trump and his overall challenges during his reelection bid. He said last week that the campaign has to “get into gear” in order to beat Trump and said earlier this month that it’s unhelpful to dismiss Biden’s polling.
Biden’s campaign has largely responded to negative polling by saying that polls this far out from Election Day typically aren’t predictive of voters in November.
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