Top-tier Democratic presidential candidates are moving to staff up their teams as they try to gain an advantage in what’s expected to become a crowded field in 2020.
The three main Democratic candidates who have announced in the past month — Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., — are all hiring staffers for their bids, according to job postings asking for resumes to fill several positions.
Those campaigns are searching for experience such as organizing, communications, writing, and policy expertise to fill out their teams.
“Our team is building a grassroots movement and we need your help. We will need organizers, communicators, writers, coders, wonks and more,” Warren’s team said in its post. “Most of all we will need you to join us in this fight if you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and to work to save our democracy for the future.”
Gillibrand’s team was seeking a long list of potential staffers, including for campaign operations and video/photography.
Harris’ posting included a short biography of Harris and an email for those interested to send resumes along.
The push to win staffers is part of the campaigns’ efforts to win people before other campaigns jump into the 2020 fray, such as possible candidates like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., former Vice President Joe Biden, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
“As always, there’s a real competition for the best staff, and I’m afraid that if you wait to get in, you’re not going to be able to pick the people you want to help you win,” said Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist who worked for former Sen. Ted Kennedy and former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
“All the best staff are being scooped up right now, so they could be in a world of hurt if they want to get in,” Manley said.
Harris’ team is the latest to roll out some top hires. The California Democrat announced that Deidre DeJear, who narrowly lost her bid to be Iowa’s secretary of state, would serve as her campaign chairwoman, while Will Dubbs would lead her organizing effort in the Hawkeye State. Dubbs previously served as Hillary Clinton’s organizing director in Iowa in 2016.
