President-elect Joe Biden’s core White House team is starting to take shape despite President Trump’s refusal to concede the race, stymieing a smooth transition process.
The Democrat is expected to name campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon as his White House deputy chief of staff, NBC first reported. Dillon will work closely with incoming chief of staff Ron Klain, a longtime adviser who served Biden in the same capacity at the start of Biden’s vice presidency.
Dillon, 44, wasn’t a Biden loyalist. She began the 2020 Democratic primaries as former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s campaign manager but was poached by Biden after the ex-congressman’s run flamed out.
She is, however, an alumna of the Obama-Biden campaigns, acting as battleground states director in 2008 and deputy campaign manager in 2012. She never joined the administration, opting instead to work for the Democratic National Committee.
Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond, 47, is also anticipated to announce on Tuesday that he’s quitting Congress to accept a senior role in the Biden White House. Richmond, a campaign co-chairman and former Congressional Black Caucus chairman, will concentrate on public engagement, according to Bloomberg.
Richmond, an early and fierce Biden backer, will likely be one of only a handful of members able to join the Biden administration since Democrats failed to expand their majority in the House, and their control of the Senate hinges on two January runoffs. His retirement would trigger a special election for Louisiana’s New Orleans-anchored 2nd District, a safe Democratic seat.
Neither a spokeswoman for Biden’s transition team nor Richmond’s congressional office immediately responded to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
Multiple outlets called the election for Biden on Nov. 7, but Trump has declined to concede as he awaits the outcomes of a raft of lawsuits his campaign filed challenging the results in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. His refusal to concede has slowed the transition process, with the General Services Administration not signing off on a transfer of power that would give Biden’s team access to office space and resources.
