Joe Biden is dramatically changing his campaign staff after a disappointing performance in the Iowa caucuses.
Anita Dunn, a longtime Democratic operative who worked for years in the Obama administration, has been elevated to a senior position in the campaign. Previously, she was only an adviser in the former vice president’s campaign.
“She will be working closely with us on campaign strategy and overall coordination on budget and personnel as we build a bigger campaign for the next phase,” a leaked campaign email to the New York Times said.
Dunn, 62, is currently the managing director of SKDKnickerbocker, a liberal communications firm in Washington. She worked for then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2006 before being his director of communications in his 2008 White House run.
She served as the White House communications director from April to November 2009 before leaving for the private sector. Dunn helped advise Obama’s campaign during his 2012 reelection bid as president.
The news of Dunn’s role comes after the results of Monday’s Iowa caucuses left Biden in a weakened political position. Though his campaign wavered on whether it believed a strong performance was necessary in Iowa, its distant fourth-place finish behind Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren has come with dramatic reevaluations on the campaign’s future strategy.
On Wednesday, reports came out that the Biden campaign fired its Iowa field director, Adrienne Bogen. Other senior members of the state’s operation moved on to positions in Super Tuesday states ahead of the March 3 contests.
