Appointments and Nominations

Jen O’Malley Dillon, White House deputy chief of staff

Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign manager, will be deputy chief of staff in Biden’s White House. O’Malley Dillon is a former executive director of the Democratic National Committee and a founding partner of the Democratic consulting firm Precious Strategies. She led Beto O’Rourke’s 2020 presidential campaign before joining Biden’s.

Cedric Richmond, senior adviser

Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.) will leave Congress to join Biden’s White House as a senior adviser focused on public engagement. He will conduct outreach to grassroots organizations, public interest and advocacy groups, the business community, and climate change activists. Richmond was a national co-chair of Biden’s presidential campaign. 

Richmond’s congressional district, Louisiana’s 2nd, is rated Solid Democratic. Vacancies are filled by special election.

Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president

Steve Ricchetti, a longtime Biden aide, will serve as counselor to the president—a role currently held by Hope Hicks and Derek Lyons in the Trump administration. Ricchetti worked for Biden during the Obama administration, serving as his chief of staff in 2013.

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News

• Biden and Harris will receive a non-governmental national security briefing on Tuesday from diplomatic, intelligence, and defense experts. “The briefing is clearly part of the incoming administration's effort to pressure the General Services Administration to ascertain the election so that Biden can start receiving intelligence briefings,” NBC News reported.

• The Biden transition team has begun reviewing potential judicial nominees, according to The Huffington Post. The U.S. Senate votes to confirm federal judicial nominees. Republicans will hold at least 50 seats in the U.S. Senate and Democrats 48. Two Georgia Senate races, which have runoffs on January 5, 2020, will determine control of the chamber.

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What We're Reading

• CNN: Progressives turned out for Joe Biden. Now they want a big role in his administration.
• Government Executive: How Biden's Team Seeks to Mitigate the Impact of a Delayed Transition
• Politico: The Crisis that Forged Biden’s Chief of Staff