President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign manager appears to have picked a horse in the Democratic presidential race: Joe Biden.
Jim Messina attended a high-dollar fundraiser for the former vice president’s campaign in Irvine, California, on Friday, according to a pool report.
The political operative was deputy chief of staff in the Obama White House before running Obama’s reelection campaign. Following Obama’s 2012 win, Messina joined the election team for the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom in 2013. He also joined Priorities USA Action, a super PAC that supported Obama’s reelection and Clinton’s 2016 bid, and the Obama administration’s Organizing for Action advocacy group.
Messina argued last year that Bernie Sanders is not electable in a general election against Trump.
“I think today, you look at it and say that Bernie Sanders is unlikely going to be able to stand up to the constant barrage that is Donald Trump on economic issues,” Messina said in April. “If nothing else, he will definitely be one of the final two or three candidates who has a shot at the nomination.”
Messina expressed interest in then-South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg in the same interview.
“I think we’re going to have another surprise candidate. Today, I’d say that’s Mayor Pete,” he said. “We’re going to find out if Bernie Sanders can move a message to both swing voters and his base. We’re going to find out if Joe Biden is battle tested. We’re going to figure out whether Kamala Harris and Beto O’Rourke and Mayor Pete have the magic we think they have.”
Federal Elections Commission records available through September show Messina has not donated more than $200 to any other candidates in the crowded Democratic presidential field. Harris and O’Rourke have both left the race.
Some former Obama staff members were troubled by Biden’s stumbles and chaotic campaign over the summer. One former 2012 Obama campaign official told the Washington Examiner in June 2019 that “someone needs to get to Biden and make a real attempt to change the man,” adding that “there are definitely knives out for Biden among the Democratic National Committee and those who worked in the Obama White House.”
